What is happening to the caimans being cared for at the Roberto Franco Station of the National University of Colombia (UNAL) in Villavicencio (Meta), in central Colombia, lies somewhere between legend and reality. They are a species declared critically endangered mainly because of illegal hunting, but they also now appear to be at risk in the very place where they are supposed to be safe.
In recent days, reports have circulated claiming that these plains caimans or Orinoco crocodiles (Crocodylus intermedius) are allegedly eliminating one another through cannibalism. Those reports began spreading when UNAL started reconstructing documentation, reviewing agreements, inventories, and the movement of animals, and submitted the information to Internal Control and the UNAL Disciplinary Oversight Office, the Ministry of Environment, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Comptroller General’s Office.
However, Cormacarena, the authority responsible for the inspection, monitoring, and control of wildlife in Meta, recently visited the Roberto Franco Station and reported that the animals were in good health, according to the UNAL News Agency. The outlet quoted Lucy Gabriela Delgado Murcia, dean of the Faculty of Sciences at UNAL, who stated that “the animals do not practice cannibalism; it is not part of their behavior.”
Many caimans exceed the age for reintroduction
But the debate surrounding the Station, which is attached to the Faculty of Sciences at UNAL Bogota and works on the conservation and reproduction of this species, is not only about the animals currently living there, but also about the historical management of one of the country’s most important conservation programs aimed at protecting the Orinoco crocodile, involving the government, academia, and environmental authorities.
Although the National Plains Caiman Conservation Program involves the Ministry of Environment, the Alexander von Humboldt Institute, Corporinoquia, Cormacarena, and other public and private entities linked to species protection, UNAL has for years almost single-handedly assumed the costs of breeding, feeding, caring for, and managing the animals, the UNAL News Agency added.
Within this framework, the Station took on the reproduction of caimans and the contribution of scientific knowledge about the species, while the Ministry of Environment and the environmental corporations were expected to lead strategies to return these animals to their natural ecosystems. “The University historically fulfilled its role,” Professor Delgado stated.
The review carried out by the Faculty of Sciences found that many of the animals housed at the Station have already surpassed the appropriate age for successful reintroduction processes. Professor Delgado explained that conservation protocols indicate that caimans born in captivity should be released while still young, between one and two years old, when they reach between one and two meters in length. At that age, they have greater chances of adapting to natural conditions and surviving in ecosystems where the species has historically lived.
But the Station currently houses numerous animals between 10 and 20 years old, some measuring more than three and four meters, which have remained in captivity for decades. The academic explained that the problem worsens because the species’ reproductive cycle continues every year. Between late November and January, mating and egg laying occur, and dozens of eggs may be fertile and become new hatchlings.
Caimans live among courthouses and repair shops
“Without sustained release processes, the number of animals progressively increases and ends up generating critical overcrowding conditions,” Professor Delgado said, adding that during a Ministry of Environment visit in July 2025, at least 18 blind animals and others with mutilations were identified, allegedly as a consequence of confinement conditions and the reduced size of some concrete ponds housing large specimens.
This situation is compounded by the urban transformation of the Meta capital. “Today the Roberto Franco Station is located in the center of Villavicencio, behind the courthouses, in an area surrounded by repair shops where environmental and noise pollution are absolutely evident and documented,” she explained. Such conditions do not correspond to an appropriate environment for a large wild species that is critically endangered.
The Faculty of Sciences at UNAL is working with experts in biology, veterinary medicine, and animal welfare to define alternatives that will provide better conditions for adult specimens and for the plains caiman hatchlings born during each reproductive cycle. Another aspect currently under review by UNAL concerns the monitoring of the National Plains Caiman Conservation Program itself, designed in 2002.
“The Program established an initial 10-year phase subject to evaluation, during which the reproductive success of the species, population recovery trends, and the effectiveness of reintroducing specimens into natural Orinoquía environments were to be analyzed,” the dean explained. In other words, it was not enough merely to breed animals in captivity. “The real objective was to restore viable plains caiman populations in their natural habitat and verify whether those specimens could adapt and reproduce outside the station. We cannot continue simply collecting caimans.”