ACES American Crocodile Education Sanctuary

Donating My Kidney Helped Save my Dad, Donating a Dollar Can Help Save an Entire Species From Extinction! PLEASE HELP the Crocs TODAY!

Your Generous Tax - Deductible Donation Today Will Help Save Crocs Like George By

building him a new habitat! Without a new pen to house George, he may have to be sacrificed to save more crocodiles. To date he has killed two crocs. There are more crocs needing rescued.

Any size donation can be made through ACES's 501(c)(3) partner 'The Belize Economic & Ecological Development Fund.' http://www.beedfund.org/

You Can Save American Crocodiles Today

and Help Take a Bite Out of Extinction!

The digging of the new pen has begun. This six foot deep canal is connected to a previously enclosed crocodile habitat in front of it and fed by the Rio Grande River. Fresh tidal waters will bring in food such as fish, crabs and shrimp while carrying out waste products two times a day, making this crocodile enclosure as natural as possible. There was actually a troop of endangered Guatemalan Black Howler Monkeys in the trees above when this photo was taken.

Still Needed:

Item	Cost / Quantity	Total / BZ
Backhoe Services	$110 / hr x 40 hrs	$ 4,400.00
Selective Tree Removal w/ Chainsaw	$50 / day x 4 men x 3 days	$ 600.00
Sand & Gravel (15 yards delivered)	$300 x 1 load	$ 300.00
Cessa Cement	$16.23 / bag x 30 bags	$ 486.90
3/8” Steel for Footer (2 steel/ 40 ft section of fence)	$15.13 x 30	$ 453.90
Form Boards (1 x 12 x 12)	$15 x 10 boards	$ 150.00
2 in Galvanized Fence Poles	$64.35 / pole x 30	$ 1,930.50
Gate Hinges, Latches	$11 each x (4 pair hinges + 2 latches)	$ 66.00
3 in Schedule 40 PVC	$49.23 x 4	$ 196.92
Vinyl Coated Fencing (6 ft h x 66 ft)	$300 x 8 rolls	$ 2,400.00
Box Nuts & Bolts (3/8 in x 2 1/2 in)	$50 x 1 box	$ 50.00
Boulders (21 yards)	$400 x 3 loads	$ 1,200.00
Labor for Croc Containment Facility	$50 / day x 5 men x 15 days	$ 3,750.00
Generator Fuel (ACES is solar)	$8 / gal x 10 gallons	$ 80.00
Material Delivery		$ 475.00
Misc. Hardware (clamps, tie wire, mails, etc.)		$ 100.00
	Subtotal	$16,639.22
Allowance of 10%	price increases and margin of error	$ 1,663.92
( Total US Dollars $9151.57 )	Total BZ Dollars	$18,303.14

Please Help Save American Crocodile in Belize They Need Your Help to Build New Homes at ACES

Meet George and Debbie, two American Crocodiles rescued by ACES in the summer of 2008. Both crocs were the victims of being fed illegally by humans as a tourist attraction on Ambergris Caye. Because of their size and conditioned, lack of fear for humans, these magnificent wild creatures remain in captivity with death being their only alternative. Crocs such as these cannot be re-released into the wild for they are now a threat to humans where ever they are; in addition, crocodiles are known to travel hundreds of miles and even cross land to return to their home. This photo was taken at ACES where the crocs seem at home.

George is a 14 ft, wild, male crocodile, who was so used to being fed by humans that he would take food from anyone who had it. Wildlife Behaviorist and Crocodile wrangler, Vince Rose, placed a lasso around George's upper snout.

With the other end of the rope tied to a golf cart, myself and a local volunteer helped secure the beast, who weighed every bit of 600 lbs.

Not only was George obese from a daily diet of non-nutritional, thawed, frozen chicken, but at one time his tail had obviously been cut by a machete. The 'nubbin' that was hanging by just the bone, showed signs of the onset of gangrene and was amputated by Vince at the time of George's release at ACES. Antibiotics were applied and today the tail has healed nicely.

George was wrapped up in a net like a burrito and rolled onto a piece of plywood which was lifted by eight men onto the back of a flatbed truck. The huge reptile was driven to a nearby dock and load into a Belizean skiff for transport to the mainland in Belize City. From there, George was unloaded by ten men at Captain Dukes Marina and placed into a large PVC tube on the back of a next flatbed truck for the long voyage to ACES in the southern most past of Belize.

Still inside the PVC tube, George was drug by four men to his new safe haven at ACES / American Crocodile Education Sanctuary.Freed of his ropes and finally released after the two day trek, George found an old friend he never expected to find here.

Although George was relocated to ACES three months after Debbie, she swam right up to him and greeted George with crocodile recognition behaviors. Truly the only facility of its kind, ACES's containment areas are fed by the Rio Grande River. Twice a day the tide brings fresh water, fish, shrimp, and crabs into the pens for the crocs. As well, prey birds and small mammals can enter, allowing the crocs to feed as they would in the wild.

Debbie with a friendly egret. George just hanging out.

Now George Needs Your Help! It has became unfortunately aware that George will not tolerate any other crocs in the habitat with him and Debbie. It has cost one rescued crocodile it's life. George's habitat can actually house over twenty crocodiles of formidable size. Something in his nature warrants his desperate need of his own containment habitat. To date ACES has successfully rescued over thirty crocs in need and eleven of those have been able to be re-released into the wild and found a home for one with the Belize Zoo. With the ever increasing human-croc conflicts due to the impending development in Belize, ACES desperately needs the spacious facility that George is protecting. Currently, there are five other crocodiles in need of rescue.