Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear Croc enthusiasts,

I am out of my field here...and I hope some of you can give an educated opinion. Someone sent me (and I saw it about a year ago also) an internet photos of a crocodile, which was killed and skinned, and human parts removed from within, you can see an arm, foot, hand etc. Have you seen it? Supposedly, it is from the Rio Grande, in South Texas, and the victim is an illegal alien. I am skeptical about the text, but the photos look real to me. It's a good photo, maybe someone could verify what type of crocodile it is, and help debunk or verify the story. Anyone know the true story on this one? I know Texas has alligators, are there or were there crocodiles on the Rio Grande? Details please...
Thanks, Vic H. Imperial Valley, Ca.

To answer your question first, NO, there are no crocs in the Rio Grande. The American Crocodile only reaches as far north as about the city of Tampico which is way south of Brownsville, Tx.....TC

Couple of similar stories on snopes. Sounds like the second one is the one you got.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/animals/golfcroc.asp
(WARNING: NOT WORK SAFE IMAGERY IN THIS LINK)
http://www.snopes.com/photos/gruesome/dontfish.asp

Yes, that's the photos I speak of. Clearly the Rio Grande verbiage is hogwash...note the bamboo mats with the body parts displayed, suggestive of Asia I would think. Can any of you guess what species it is? Nice and clean in the photo...I wondered if a salty or mugger? Thanks for your responses, now we play guess the species and further destroy the story...I have no good references on crocodilians available to me. thanks, Vic H.