The rescued crocodile. Telegraph picture

Sonepur, May 23: Residents of Rothpur in Sonepur district found a baby crocodile on the bank of the Mahanadi today morning. While some youths mistook it for a water monitor and tried to kill it, others recognised the animal and rescued it. The villagers intimated the forest department which took possession of the animal.

Sources said some youths of Rothpur village were bathing when they saw the reptile on the river bank. They mistook it for a water monitor and were ready to kill it when one Prafulla Dang of nearby Uphula village recognised it as a baby crocodile and came to rescue it.

“The youth were trying to kill the baby crocodile thinking it to be a water monitor because its meat is eaten. But I recognised the animal as a baby crocodile and informed other villagers. We intimated forest officials who came and took possession of the animal,” said Prafulla Dang.

The forest officials called veterinary surgeon Ranjan Sahu from Ulunda, who did a thorough check-up of the crocodile’s health. Later the reptile was released in the deep waters of the Mahanadi.

Forest range officer of Ulunda Hemanta Naik said that the baby crocodile was about eight months old. “It is a gharial. It might have come all along from Satkosia gorge, the abode of the gharials. A veterinary surgeon checked the health of the baby crocodile and it was found to be fine. We released the crocodile in the deep waters of the river,” Naik said.

Local residents, however, found the discovery of the baby crocodile quite interesting. The villagers said they had never heard of a crocodile in the waters of the Mahanadi in Sonepur for a long time now. Narayan Mishra, a local resident, said he had heard about crocodiles in the Mahanadi in Sonepur some 30 years ago. “I remember that during the great flood of 1982 some people had encountered crocodiles here. Thereafter, there had been no news about any crocodile in the Mahanadi waters in Sonepur,” Mishra said.