Authorities seize three crocodiles from ex-baseball player José Rijo

Santo Domingo – The Specialized Attorney’s Office for the Environment and Natural Resources raided this Thursday in San Cristóbal, a former Major League Baseball player José Rijo, where they rescued three crocodiles that he was keeping irregularly and deplorable conditions, according to the information.

In the place, specifically in the Urbanization El Rosal, there were four crocodiles in Madre Vieja Sur. Still, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office, one died due to the precarious conditions, which stated that it opened an investigation against Rijo, who could be sanctioned for the facts.

The three rescued animals “remained around a small pool, with scarce liters of water, which threatened their health and life,” added the information.

The authorities will transfer them to the National Zoo, where they will be submitted to the corresponding analysis and veterinary care for their subsequent integration to a suitable habitat.

The former owner kept these animals in captivity without the proper environmental permits, in violation of the General Law of the Environment and Natural Resources (64-00), said the Attorney General’s Office.

The crocodile is a species whose preservation is threatened and, therefore, is not allowed to be kept unless it is in zoos and similar spaces, explained in the note of the biologist Nelson García Mercado of the Ministry of Environment.

“The animals are in terrible sanitary conditions. They throw their food and plastic bags at them,” he said.