The veterinary services department is babysitting 20 caimans after a Nicosia pet shop owner tried to import them from The Netherlands.

Chief veterinary officer Pavlos Toumazos said his department confiscated the baby spectacled caimans – small crocodile-like creatures - at Larnaca airport after their flight on Friday evening because the importer did not have licensed premises in which to keep them.

Toumazos said yesterday “In order to import crocodiles you have to have a licensed place to put them, like a zoo. Melios Pet Park has a license as a pet store, but we do not want them to be sold to someone who doesn’t know what to do with them when they grow up.” According to their website, all animals at the pet park are for sale.

The animals are now just 15cm long but when they reach full size – over two metres long - many owners may well be forced to abandon them.

“He has not got a place to put them... and if they are sold I am sure that 99 per cent will die because there is not enough water (in Cyprus),” Toumazos said, adding that if they did find a lake or reservoir they would dramatically change the environment.

The owner of the Melios Pet Park, Menelaos Menelaou disputes the department’s decision to confiscate the animals and he is now trying to press charges against them.

In a letter to Larnaca police station, Menelaou alleges that the department “illegally withheld the 20 spectacled Caiman/Caiman crocodiles... along with many other birds... yet I know it is not illegal to move crocodiles from The Netherlands to Cyprus.”

He added that the conditions in which the department is keeping the animals are unsuitable and could even lead to their death.

“I would like this incident to be investigated as soon as possible because the holding areas that they have kept the crocodiles in are not suitable and if they remain in these holdings they will definitely die.”

Toumazos acknowledged that the international sale of caimans was legal, and that there is a general lack of legislation concerning exotic and dangerous animals in the EU, but said the Dutch dealer had a responsibility to ensure that the purchaser had licensed premises in which to keep them.

Referring to keeping animals legally in Cyprus, Toumazos said “He (Menelaos) can apply for a licence to be a zoo and then import one or two animals but not 20.”

Asked about the living conditions at the airport, he said that he had instructed customs officials to feed the animals until Menelaou arranges for their return to the Netherlands.

If he does not come forward to return the animals, then the department will put them down.

“We are not going to allow him to him to let these into Cyprus. We don’t want to become like the Amazon.”