Police and wildlife experts have launched a search for
two baby alligators that escaped from a zoo in southern France, an
official said on Tuesday.
The 90-centimetre (three-foot) long reptiles, originally from
China, went missing from the Crocodile Farm near the town of
Pierrelatte late last month, a police official said.
Worth "several tens of thousands of euros" (dollars) each, they
were first thought to have been stolen but recent evidence suggests
they are prowling around between a cornfield and a disused
canal.
"Traces of their presence have been discovered and we now have a
good hope of finding them," the official added, warning that the
alligators could not survive the cold of the winter outdoors.
"These are young alligators with jaws hardly any bigger than a
poodle's, so no one will get eaten."