Deodat Mahamad known as ‘Alligator Man’ earns his living by catching caimans and other wildlife and preserving them for export.
Mahamad told Stabroek News that though the trade is risky he enjoys it and could not envision himself in another line of work. He said too the financial rewards are not attractive when one compares it to the “hard work,” of “skinning” the reptiles then drying them for the market.
Mahamad lives at La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara but he packs his gear and sets off for the waterways with his canoe. His route is from Mahaica to Moleson Creek and he camps out at wherever ‘catch’ can be found.
When this newspaper caught up with him in the Abary Creek recently he was in the process of preserving some skins. He had spent over two weeks in the Creek with two of his four employees and they caught 210 caimans. He had already removed the entrails, washed the skins with bleach and was applying a “special salt” to preserve them. He was preparing them for an exporter who collects them from the site.
The woman fixes a price of $600 to $800, depending on the size but Mahamad is not satisfied as the “cost of living is very high and this work is hard. We gat to be up 24 hours to do it and it is very also risky. I am a poor man and ah glad if I can get other market.” He said he has raised the issue with the exporter and “she said she got an order since last year to send some and when she finish that quota then we gon talk about a raise of pay.” The man said he knows that he could earn more if he exported the skins himself but he does not have close relatives abroad who might be able to facilitate this.
Mahamad related that he learnt the trade 25 years ago. He said catching his prey requires a lot of talent which is not acquired overnight. The man said he spent his childhood at Yarrow Creek, Mahaicony River and he got his start in the trade when he accompanied others to catch the creatures, which were later stuffed and sold to the owners of craft shops.
A few years later Mahamad said a buyer approached him saying he was interested in exporting the skins to Brazil and Colombia. He then got together with nine other young men and they then canoed from “Pomeroon to Crabwood Creek and trap the ‘alligators’ and supply him.” He said after that job he met his current buyer.
Mahamad ventures out in his canoe at nights on alert for the reptiles. He said he spots them by “shining a light in the water” which causes their eyes to glow. Keeping the light affixed to the spot, he paddles softly towards his unsuspecting target and captures it with a makeshift trap – using a long pole and a piece of wire. He then carefully lifts the crocodile into the canoe and kills it.
The man said he is careful not to trap the young creatures and females and if by chance he catches them he would “throw it back in the water.” In most cases his catch would measure 36 to 50 inches in length. He boasts though, that so far he has never been bitten. And as he became more skilled in the business, the man said he moved on to catching snakes which he traps on trees using a similar method. He admits that this job is even more dangerous.
He said he puts the snakes into bags and takes them [alive] to the exporters. Among the other wildlife creatures, he trades are “water-dogs and tigers.”
Mahamad who also rears cattle said he is badly in need of a firearm for his type of business. He said he had applied for one a long time ago and is asking for the process to “speed up.” He said in the past he had witnessed a tiger attacking his cows but he was unable to prevent it because “I did not have a gun.” (Shabna Ullah)
