8.5 feet crocodile at Hyderabad Water Board office

Hyderabad: Forest department officials rescued a 8.5 feet mugger crocodile on Friday which had settled down close to a water pipeline located near the Hyderabad Water Board building which is located close to the Manjeera wildlife sanctuary that is home to nearly 500 crocodiles.

Sanctuary forest range officer Bachi Reddy said, “It took us about two hours to rescue the crocodile, we released it back into the Manjeera river. The river is dry, and the crocodile may have reached the office whose premises was filled with water following rain.”

The forest department has been regularly getting reports of crocodiles found in agricultural fields close to human habitations and even in canals in villages far away from the river from the start of this year.

Not much has changed since onset of southwest monsoon this year for the around 500 crocodiles which have been jostling for food and space in Manjeera river due to poor inflow of water.