31 October 2018•Update: 31 October 2018
By Rauf Maltas
SANLIURFA, Turkey
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.
Reporting by Rauf Maltas:Writing by Can Erozden
