A German zoo has been forced to rename one its Cuban crocodiles after one aggressive reptile called Fidel started attacking the others.
His regular assaults on his siblings earned Fidel the nickname “Castro” and plunged the young crocodile into a political fight with the zoo’s sponsors.
Fidel is one of seven crocodiles hatched at the zoo in Hoyerswerda in a region formerly in communist-ruled East Germany.
The Cuban crocodile is an endangered species and zookeepers decided to honor the hatchlings by giving them names associated with their homeland.
But then Fidel and politics intervened, reports The Local newspaper.
“We were simply looking for names which you immediately associate with their homeland of Cuba,” said zoo director Carmen Lötsch.
“Nobody intended it to be a direct reference to dictator Fidel Castro or indeed a glorification of him as a person.”
But the committee that provides funding in the region — and last year gave the zoo some $600,000 in backing — decided that the name for the snappy snapper had to go as it was politically insensitive.
