THE HINDU (Chennai, India) 03 March 08 Crocodile brings a headache (T.V. Sivanandan)
Gulbarga: The sighting of a six-foot-long crocodile in the Sharanabasaveshwar Tank in the heart of Gulbarga city has triggered panic among officials who have launched efforts to have it caught alive.
Eyewitnesses have found the crocodile on the freshly constructed bund of the tank, basking the afternoon sun. In the event of sensing any movement, it quickly gets back into the water.
Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey confirmed that efforts were on to catch the crocodile and shift it to a zoo or a natural habitat. The district administration had earlier alerted the Forest Department about the presence of a crocodile a couple of months ago, but no action had been taken by it.
Mr. Pandey said he was in touch with the authorities in the Crocodile Park in Chennai for catching the reptile. So far the animal had not harmed anybody and there was no chance of it coming out of the tank and entering human inhabitations as the tank had been fenced.
There is no shortage of food for the crocodile as the tank has a rich fish stock and water fowls and cranes flock to the tank.
What is intriguing is how the reptile entered the tank, which was desilted a year ago. Because of the failure of rain last year, the tank was dry for more than 10 months. There is a suspicion that some miscreants might have released the crocodile, caught elsewhere, to create panic in the city.
As a precautionary measure, the district administration has postponed the launch of the boat service in the tank and the five new peddling and motorboats purchased for the purpose are lying idle.
Even the children’s park on the banks of the tank has not been thrown open to the public because of the presence of the crocodile.
Crocodile brings a headache