CYPRUS MAIL (Nicosia) 22 August 10 Joining the hunt for Troodos croc (Patrick Dewhurst and Erica Macheriotou)
A hot breeze rustled in the trees overhead, bringing a faint stench of rotten meat and an ominous rumbling sound. Our party came to an abrupt halt.
False alarm: the sound is just truck passing over a nearby hill, but for a moment I imagined a crocodile’s gaping jaws as it lunges out of a nearby rock pool, and I began to wonder if a mackerel fillet and a long stick were adequate protection for the task at hand.
This was the scene in a murky wood below Oikos village on Friday where, after two sightings, I had come in search of an elusive-crocodile like creature that was terrorising villagers.
With me were Androulla Charalambous, sister and guardian of the second witness, former EOKA fighter and ex Oikos mukhtar Stelios Mavros, and resident crocodile hunter, and Sunday Mail intern Erica Macherioutou.
Earlier that morning, Erica and I met Stavroulla Diakou, the first witness, to see if we could learn anything about the beast’s habits to help our quest.
Diakou gives a convincing account of her experience, and is certain it was a crocodile, not an alligator or Caiman. “I may be from a village but I can most certainly distinguish one from the other. Alligators have a rounder face; a crocodile’s is longer and narrower. What I saw was a crocodile!”
No sooner had we started to discuss strategies for catching the beast (namely luring with bait and splashing about a bit) when the phone rang with news of a second sighting just metres from Diakou’s farm.
We arrived there moments later, together with Mavros (in full Camo gear) and began to explore. The second witness, Andreas Constantinou, 65, showed us the site where he claims the crocodile actually struck him before fleeing to the river.
Later he would tell two bemused-looking policemen. “The crocodile came up behind me and shoved me over the shoulders causing me to fall over the ledge,” he said.
Andreas’ sister, and carer, Androulla Charalambous said “Andreas was terrified, his clothes were soaked and he was shaking; he couldn’t sleep at all last night. He keeps repeating the same story over and over, he wouldn’t lie, the poor darling.”
It was time to set the bait. On our way up to the mountains we had stopped off to buy mackerel fillets, which we laid tantalisingly along the river bank near muddy areas, to reveal footprints.
With no sign of life an hour later (bar one curious crab) it was time for plan B: Souvlakia. Two hours, and one hearty lunch later we had confirmed our suspicions: the creature had left the area.
There was only one thing left to do; venture into its lair.
With one last mackerel fillet and an intern as bait, we set off upstream. After about 300 metres we reached DIakou’s farm, scene of the first sighting two weeks ago.
The farm sits in a narrow meadow formed by the looping river, and is home to a row of rabbit hutches and pigsties.
Upwind we discover the source of the rotting smell: the Fisheries Department’s traps, which had been dismantled after two weeks without success.
Clearly the beast was a greater match than we first thought: it had resisted mackerel, souvlakia and even reptile experts’ trap, and while sceptics might doubt the existence of a crocodile, the truth was still out there to be discovered, so we ventured on.
Asked if he believed in the crocodile’s existence, Mavros said ““Well I haven’t seen anything to confirm it, and the traps left by the Department of Fisheries were untouched, but there’s no fish left in the river, he’s cleared it all.”
As long as the threat remains of a hungry wild predator, Mavros is remaining cautions about his grandchildrens’ safety. “I used to bring my grandchildren here every year to splash around the river. Now I wouldn’t dare.”
Soon the dense forest forces us to turn back. There was just one place on our list to check – the algae filled pond at the foot of the Oikos dam - perfect croc territory.
We arrived there 10 minutes later, where all was silent save for the trickling of a stream from the dam above us.
Where was the dam manager? Had the crocodile entered and eaten the compound’s residents? Only a stray puppy answered our calls. Could he be the next victim. Could this puppy even be the misunderstood monster?
We left Oikos with as many questions as when we had arrived, but one thing was for sure – whatever was out there was not Cypriot, for what Cypriot carnivore could resist souvlakia?
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/crocodile/joining-hunt-troodos-croc/20100822

CYPRUS MAIL (Nicosia) 21 August 10 Our View: Troodos ‘crocodile’ sighting highlights regulatory loophole
The idea of a crocodile running loose in a reservoir in Troodos might seem like a bit of a joke but there wouldn’t be anything at all funny about it if someone got hurt.
No doubt many people think it’s highly unlikely that Stavroulla Diakou, a 60-year-old woman, really came face to face with such a creature at the bottom of her garden but the fact is the authorities are taking her account seriously and are on the lookout for the large reptile.
The case highlights an issue not much discussed in Cyprus...unless someone spots a crocodile in the mountains of Troodos that is.
According to an environment officer, reports of wild animals being spotted running loose around the island are not that rare, and authorities admit it is becoming a serious problem. Non-indigenous animals, reptiles and insects can pose a serious hazard to the island’s eco system.
The list of animals permitted to be sold as pets in Cyprus is apparently vague, which allows all kinds of wild animals to be brought in. And this is on top of the ones smuggled illegally.
The animal welfare group Kivotos says many of these animals are imported in travel luggage. They’ve seen cases of abandoned snakes, raccoons and kangaroos because the people who bring them in have no clue how to handle them as they grow.
Monkeys are also popular despite the fact they are known to be often disease-ridden and volatile. In the US last year a women was badly mauled by a pet chimp she’d had for 15 years in a sudden attack.
Authorities really need to act on this and not wait until someone gets hurt or dies, which is often the case in Cyprus. For example how many children must die before they seriously clamp down on people holding them on their laps in the passenger seat?
How many foreign workers will have to die on building sites before something is done about health and safety?
Exotic pets on the loose may sound like something trivial compared to these examples but it can’t be dismissed either, even if it’s a rarer phenomenon. One of Stavroulla Diakou’s five young grandchildren could just as easily have been the one to come across the reptile at the bottom of the garden, and the outcome may not have been pretty.
There have apparently been many accounts of people bringing in exotic pets with no idea how to handle them. In a country where hundreds of dogs and cats are abandoned every year because their owners decide they are too much trouble to look after, the thought of these irresponsible people owning untamed exotic animals is not exactly reassuring.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/crocodile/our-view-troodos-crocodile-sighting-highlights-regulatory-loophole/20100821

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