they're famous for their stealthy attacks but right now it's the big beasts of the retail world that are making grabs at them the skins of Australian saltwater crocodiles are said to make the best handbags money can buy in the last six months five of Australia's 14 croc farms have been sold to either Louis Vuitton or of me including some of the biggest with tens of thousands of animals demand for luxury bags has never been higher the big brands want to control the supply chain guaranteeing they get enough skins at a price they want to pay
but some crocodile farmers are resisting the concern is that there is a smaller number of companies with a lot of collateral who have the opportunity to have a monopoly on prices it means that you are taking the price that you are told you are going to have rather than having a negotiating capability with other firms as well Crocodylus porosus or the saltwater crocodile is found right across Australia's north 40 years ago poaching for their skins put the species in danger but their prolific once more again now crocodile farming instead of catching wild animals is part
of the reason for the recovery big animals are kept for breeding though some eggs are taken from the wild as many are produced and hatched on site Crocs are only nine or so inches when they come out of the egg we're looking for one and a half two metre crocodile so I can take up to about six years to get that sort of sizing the skin from two Crocs makes three bags there's nothing unusual about big international companies buying up their suppliers but too many crocodiles are not just another commodity many small farms like this
one fear being squeezed out if the big international brands keep snapping up their farms Andrew Thomas al-jazeera Kawana
