By Rauf Maltas
SANLIURFA, Turkey (AA) – A Turkish entrepreneur has been breeding hundreds of scorpions in the basement of his house for anti-venom production.
Ali Yilmaz, 48, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that he started breeding 150 scorpions in southeastern Sanliurfa province after getting a permit from the Directorate General for Nature Conservation and National Parks in 2015.
Yilmaz is now breeding 500 Arabian fat-tailed scorpions (Androctonus Crassicauda) — a dangerous specie usually found in North Africa and the Middle East.
He sends them to a farm in the central province of Eskisehir where a special kind of plant produces anti-venom.
“The plant in Eskisehir extracts the venom from these animals that I send for anti-venom production. These type of farms only exist in Mexico, Brazil and Turkey, ” Yilmaz said.
He feeds the scorpions worms and even holds them in his hand.
Yilmaz added that he was always interested in scorpions and began this business after some research.
