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It seems like pet store regulations in Japan tend to be on the lax side. The other day, while taking my daughter through a major home center’s pet section, among the puppies and parrots, I saw a meerkat for sale. What the heck is someone going to do with a meerkat? Are they going to buy some Meerkat Chow at the supermarket?

So, to be a pet store with an illegal collection of animals in Japan, it seems like you have to really put in the effort to lower the bar. That’s just what one resident of Higashiyodogawa Ward in Osaka City had been doing before police finally put a stop to it.

Soma Satomi, the proprietor of a pet shop in the area, was arrested for violating the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals as well as other regulations, after animals such as 21 snapping turtles and a 1.5-meter (5-foot) saltwater crocodile were discovered by police in the store’s back area. In the main area, other exotic animals like bats and scorpions were sold.

The snapping turtles are designated as Specified Invasive Alien Species for the ecological threat they pose in Japan, while the crocodile is a Specified Animal, meaning it poses a potential risk to human life. The crocodile was not yet fully grown, but this species, which has been known to attack humans, is capable of growing to over four meters (13 feet) in length.

▼ A news report about the arrest

The 34-year-old’s pet shop itself hardly seemed up to code either. In fact, when reporters spoke with local residents, very few of them even knew the building sold pets. In addition, the crocodile inside was being kept in an acrylic tank that Satomi appeared to have built himself, measuring only slightly larger than the croc itself at, 150 centimeters long by 61 centimeters high (59 by 24 inches). It was secured by putting a wire mesh over the top of the tank and placing something heavy on top of that.

▼ The location of the pet store. It appears to have been a skateboard shop when this Google Street View images was taken a year ago, but it gives a good sense of how populated the area is.

According to Satomi, the crocodile was his personal pet, and not for sale. That didn’t win him affection from anyone, according to online comments about the news, many of which shuddered to think what could have happened if the animals had escaped.

“I love reptiles, but that is not the behavior of someone who loves reptiles.”
“What was he going to do when he couldn’t take care of them? Abandon them somewhere?”
“Just outlaw pet shops!”
“About 30 years ago, I heard that someone was keeping a cheetah or a leopard at a house near my home. I thought it was a joke, but when I went to see, there really was one pacing around in a wire cage.”
“I once saw this crocodile named Hook at Ueno Zoo during feeding time and was shocked at how high those things can jump.”
“Japan makes it too easy to import wild animals, and the situation allows amateurs to buy and keep them with virtually no oversight.”
“Imagine the flooding Japan’s been experiencing this year happens there. That crocodile would have the run of the town.”

It’s probably safe to say the not-so-unlikely event of a flood occurring and allowing this amphibious apex predator its long-awaited freedom never occurred to its owner. After all, anyone who decided to keep a potentially massive dangerous animal with a lifespan rivaling their own as a pet isn’t especially gifted in foresight.

Hopefully, this particular croc will get a nice, spacious enclosure at a zoo somewhere, where it has all the room it needs to… Well, I guess they do just sit there most of the time, but at least it will have the option of moving around, and that’s what counts.

Source: KTV News, Yahoo! Japan News, YouTube/ABCTVnews
Image: Pakutaso
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Source: SORA NEWS24