Kendrapara: The decomposed carcass of an eight-feet-long saltwater crocodile was found on Tuesday in Brahmani river close to Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district, forest department officials said.
Panchupali village, where the reptile’s carcass was found, is close to the national park which is home to the endangered saltwater crocodiles, forest officials said.
The forest workers retrieved the carcass of the reptile from the river and sent it to the veterinary hospital at Rajnagar for autopsy, said Manas Das, the forest range officer of the national park.
The vast tract of forest and saltwater swamp in the Bhitarkanika park is home to 1,793 saltwater crocodiles according to the reptile census report of January 2023. The villages on the fringes of the national park are often witness to man-crocodile conflict.
Tuesday’s incident was the 33rd case of crocodile death in the park in the past 12 years, forest officials said.
Saltwater crocodiles are covered under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The forest and environment ministry in collaboration with UNDP launched a crocodile breeding and rearing project at Dangamal in Bhitarkanika park, a Ramsar site, in 1975.
PTI