One ballsy thief has made stealing a car look like the work of an amateur. Over the weekend, Taggen, a 28-inch crocodile, was kidnapped from his cage at the Bergen aquarium in Norway and successful smuggled out of the zoo. After the acquarium announced a reward of nearly $5,000 for his safe return, the croc wasturned over to a television crew appropriately filming a documentary about illegal reptile trafficking.

Vallen Gaanev, the kidnapping suspect, belongs to a reptile protection group and took Taggen as a means of protest against the living conditions for animals at the aquarium. Gaanev later appeared in a tabloid photo, holding Taggen, whose jaw and feet were bound by duct tape.

On Monday, Kees Oscar Ekeli, the aquarium's director said, "I think whoever did this knew what they were doing."

Gee Kees, do you think? A man manages to coax a crocodile from its cage, hide it and get it out of the aquarium before anybody notices something is amiss? Talk about stating the obvious. Even if the animal had its mouth and feet bound, you would think someone - anyone - would have noticed a man that isn't Steve Irwin tackling and hog-tying a croc.

And speaking of duct tape, Vallen Gaaneve protests the cruel aquarium conditons are cruel, yet somehow believes using duct tape to tie up the animal's mouth and feet is the equivalent of giving it a hug and a scratch behind the ears?

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