EFFORTS ON TO RELOCATE CROCODILE

NAVI MUMBAI: After two days of a video going viral about spotting a crocodile in a pond behind Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in Belapur, forest officials and an NGO have started rescue operations to rehabilitate the reptile to a safer place.

On February 17, a video of the crocodile being spotted in the pond had gone viral. On Friday, Thane range forest officials and Wildlife Welfare Association (WWA) reached the spot to conduct the rescue operations.

Narendra Muthe, Thane Range Forest Officer, said, “We got complaints from people residing in the area and also from NMMC disaster management cell regarding the crocodile. We have put up nets and also stationed volunteers at the spot. With WWA’s help, we’d be rescuing the reptile and sending it to its natural habitat.”

On Friday, WWA spotted the crocodile and put up nets on the outlet of the pond so that the reptile does not go to another pond adjacent to it. On Saturday, WWA was planning to put up a cage in the pond so as to get hold of the reptile and then release it to a place which the forest department suggests.

“On Saturday afternoon, we spotted the crocodile and are looking for a location to put the cage with feed to attract the reptile. By evening, we could not locate the crocodile, hence we would return on Sunday with the cage. It will be a futile effort to keep the cage at a place where the crocodile is not there and hence we have to make sure of its presence before we place the cage,” Omkar Kolekar, from WWA said.

BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT Volunteers prepare a cage for a crocodile found in Belapur.