Veronique Campion-Vincent | Letters to Ambrose Merton # 6, 1996

Veronique Campion-Vincent has sent us an unidentified clipping from an unidentified French newspaper, dated January 1996. It concerns the crocodile rescued from the sewers of Paris, discussed in Dear Mr Thoms 36: 13–15. The crocodile, captured in 1984, now resides in the aquarium at Vannes in Britanny and the story concerns the need to move it into a larger tank. Initially it was about 80 centimetres long and was put in a tank with turtles. However, it has grown considerably since then. The article claims that it could reach seven metres when fully grown.

The article describes the difficulties faced by the biologist, Pierre-Yves Bouis, who was in charge of Ihe crocodile's tank. he had twelve tries at lassoing the crocodile's jaws shut before managing to hoist it onto a stretcher to make Ihe move.

SH notes: This tells us little more than that the aquarium probably ha quite an effective press officer. However, most interesting from the point of view of contemporary folklore is the brief account given of the crocodile's origins. he was "saved by firemen from the sewers of Paris. near the Pont Neuf, where his previous owner had rid of him".

In reality. we do no know how the crocodile got into the sewer. It may have been abandoned by its owner. However, describing the location as "near the Pont Neuf" conceals another possibility, namely that it was an escapee from a pet shop. The sewer ran under the Quai de la Megisserie, renowned as a centre for the sale of exotic plants and animals.