Bengaluru: A crocodile paid a surprise visit to the people of Karnataka’s Kogilabanna village in Uttar Kannada district on Thursday. The reptile was spotted roaming on the street before it was captured by forest officials who released it to the river. A video shot by a local resident of the reptile roaming around, went viral on social media.
According to forests officials, the crocodile could have entered the village from Kali river located near the village.
Ramu Gouda, Deputy Range Forest Officer (RFO), Dandeli said that Kali river has a large population of crocodiles. “There have been some instances where they have come up from the river into the villages, but it is very rare,” he said.
According to the officer, as per the information given by the villagers, the crocodile entered the village around 7.30 am on Thursday. One of the residents, spotted the reptile and raised an alarm. In the video that has been doing rounds, the crocodile was seen walking the narrow lanes of the villages, with residents crowding around it.
Residents in the area told the media that they had not seen crocodiles before in the village and no one harmed the reptile.
RFO Gouda said that while sighting a crocodile is rare, in the last six months there were two instances. “In the first case it had attacked a goat near the banks and in the second case, it had come up to a forest department check post,” he said.
He added that the reason for the crocodile coming to the shores could be several. “It attacks cattle only if it is near the banks. In other cases, they could come for sun bathing since they are cold-blooded,” Gouda added.
According to the officer, officials didn’t have to capture the crocodile per se, but only guided it back to the river. “We wanted to ensure that no one harmed it because it would result in retaliation. We were able to reach the location within 45 minutes. In this case, since the river was nearby, we made way for it to go back to the river,” he said.
On December 3, 2020, a 10-year-old boy, who was herding cattle at a remote village was killed and eaten by a crocodile in north Karnataka’s Raichur district. The boy identified as Mallikarjun was herding cattle along with six others at D Rampura village near Krishna river.
