Endangered Baby Crocodile Turned Into Creepy Purse

Story ByKoen BerghuisSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyCentral European News

Picture Credit: CEN

Customs officers have impounded a creepy purse made out of the entire skin of a critically endangered baby crocodile with its eyes staring at the holder.

The purse was impounded by customs officers at Dusseldorf Airport, located in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

When the customs workers checked the bag of a 47-year-old traveller from the nearby city of Gelsenkirchen they found the bizarre crocodile purse.

According to the German customs, the man had just come off a flight from Dubai having travelled to Vietnam through the Middle Eastern hub.

The purse is made out of the entire skin of a baby crocodile and still is shaped exactly like the reptile if fully opened.

The front and back legs of the baby crocodile, as well as the head, are still fully recognisable.

Instead of real eyes the crocodile’s head in the purse was however prepared with glass eyes.

According to the German customs the crocodile is a highly endangered Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) native to south-eastern Asia.

Customs spokesman Fabian Pflanz said: “Siamese crocodiles are not only on the red list for critically endangered species [of the International Union for Conservation of Nature] and are threatened with extinction, but also fall under Appendix I of the Washington Convention on the Protection of Endangered Species and are thus placed under global protection.

“The amount of adult animals which are living in the wild is estimated at under 1,000.”

The customs officials said the tourist faces possible criminal charges for importing prohibited items and violating the Species Protection Ordinance.