Residents of a village in Odisha’s Malkangiri district rescued a six-foot-long crocodile from a pond on Monday. They handed over the rescued reptile to the forest department so that it could be transferred to a safe place.
According to forest officials, it was a marsh crocodile that had strayed into a pond in MV78 (Malkangiri Village 78) around six months ago.
Fear among residents
After seeing this crocodile in the pond the villagers had stopped using it for pisciculture and bathing. The villagers had informed the forest officials about the crocodile but they failed to catch it.
Finding no other way out, five residents of MV78 decided to search and capture the crocodile with a fishing net. After an effort of around three hours on Monday, they were successful in capturing the reptile.
This in not the first incident of crocodile sighting in a village area in Malkangiri. On November 1, 2017, a 10-foot-long crocodile had entered the home of a tribal family at Munata village in the district. The owner of the house, Dasrath Madkami, his wife and two daughters had managed to escape without serious injuries. Later, the villagers had captured the reptile and handed it over to the forest department.