Earlier this week, an undisclosed man reportedly called the Indian River Reptile Zoo in Toronto to rescue the full-grown crocodiles he had been keeping as "pets" in his own home.
BBC reported that more than a hundred crocs, alligators and caimans had been kept in the said man's home for 10 years.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Bry Loyst, the zoo's curator reportedly told the news site. "I could not believe that somebody had that many crocodilians and raised them to adulthood. These were not baby little crocodiles. They were adults."
According to ABC News Today, 25 volunteers wrestled with the reptiles to transfer them into the zoo's new animal sanctuary for large reptiles after the man admitted that he couldn't take care of them anymore.
"Interestingly enough, this individual phoned our rescue and told us he could no longer take care of the 150 crocodiles, alligators and caimans," Loyst added to ABC. "I didn't really believe it, but when I went over there, sure enough, it was true."
The rescued crocodiles, alligators and caimans were "in fairly good health" despite being stuck in aquariums in a "fairly large garage" which they had already outgrown. However, most of them, which were between 4 to 11 feet in length, reportedly did not have "muscle tone" since they couldn't move around and exercise.
The croc's former owner was said to have donated a "generous amount" to help care for his former "pets." Nevertheless, owning the said animals is reportedly illegal in Canada, with a maximum penalty of $5,000.
"He did the wrong thing by buying these crocodiles, he did [an] idiotic thing by buying 150 of them, but he did the right thing by donating the money and animals to a proper place that can care for them," Loyst added.
The rescued crocodiles can now swim around at the zoo's newly completed Crocodile Rescue Pool.
