15 youths battle for 80 hours to save crocodile in Gujarat

VADODARA: These group of relentless crocodile hunters from the city are tired, but won’t give up in their mission to save a three-and-half-feet long crocodile out alive from a 70 feet well.
Reaffirming their faith in getting successful in seemingly mission impossible on World Crocodile Day, the team asserted: “We will keep making efforts to rescue it even if it takes some more days!”
For, the group of 15 youngsters, including a few mountaineers, has been waging a war against time for 80 long hours till Wednesday to rescue the crocodile that fell into the well in a village of Waghodia taluka four days ago on Sunday.
The youths would take turns to climb up and down the well in their attempts to get hold of the reptile, but it seems to be contented living in the confined space feasting on toads inside the well and evading ‘arrest’.
“A few villagers who saw the reptile crawling towards the well and slipping inside it immediately informed us. Our team rushed to Narshipura village and began rescue operations, which in itself has proved to a most daunting expedition,” said Hemant Vadhwana, animal activist who is leading the group.
The reptile ventured out of a canal about two kilometres away, he added.
On the first day, the group dropped an automatic cage inside the well hoping that the reptile will crawl inside. But it failed. Then Hemant decided to climb down the well with the help of a rope.
“We first emptied some water from the well so that I could go down and catch the crocodile. But it kept slipping away as the surface is full of garbage and even has thorny plants,” the 22-year-old activist told TOI.
“It can survive inside the well but it will forever be at the risk of being suffocated owing to the garbage dumped in the well by the villagers,” said Ketan Raval, another team member, who added that they hope to catch it soon.