Court bans zoo from letting children swim with crocodiles and alligators

At a unique zoo in Hesse, visitors can get up close and personal with deadly reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators. But on Thursday a court judge denied the zoo's appeal to be allowed to continue with these practices for children.
Crocodile Zoo in Friedberg, Hesse, has faced troubles recently as its maverick way of bringing visitors closer to its animals has been deemed too dangerous by regional conservation authorities.

In the zoo, visitors can touch, feed and even swim with the crocodiles without barriers or protection, as long as they are accompanied by an experienced guide.

But on August 25th, the nature conservation authority of Darmstadt's regional council decided that visitors could not come into contact with the animals without a barrier to protect them unless they were over the age of 18 and had been explicitly informed about the potential danger to their life...