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Giant crocodile is 50-cent tourist attraction

Caught in the Philippines, perhaps the world's largest crocodile is now a tourist magnet
Giant crocodile 9 6 2011Enlarge
Villagers display the 21-foot saltwater crocodile caught in the town of Bunawan, Agusan del Sur province on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
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Anyone with 20 Philippines pesos -- that's 46 cents in U.S. currency -- can view a captured crocodile that recently captivated the world's media.

Animal rights activists, such as PETA, have pressured authorities to free the beast. Instead, they've set up a park dedicated to the 2,370-pound croc, nicknamed "Lolong," according the AFP news outlet.

Lolong now lives in a pit meant to become the town's swimming pool, AFP reports. The ticket revenue will help pay down the one million pesos ($23,116) allegedly used to capture the crocodile, which is believed to have killed two humans and a water buffalo.

Philippine outlet ABS-CBN news reports that the park is also setting aside a second pit for another, possibly larger crocodile spotted by villagers and currently being hunted down.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-rice-bowl/giant-crocodile-50-cent-tourist-attraction

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