A salt-water crocodile in Bhitarkanika national park. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, June 28: The state forest department has launched a scheme to provide monetary rewards to villagers who provide information on crocodiles entering human habitations from the Bhitarkanika National Park here. This move would help them monitor the movement of salt-water crocodiles in the villagers bordering the reptiles’ habitation corridors.

“The department needs to be informed about straying crocodiles’ whereabouts so that the reptiles could be driven back to their original habitation corridors by skilled service groups. To get the people involved in the exercise, each person giving ground-level information on the crocs’ location would get a Rs 200 cash award,” said Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, divisional forest officer, Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest division. With the breeding season of these estuarine reptiles now at its peak, there several instances of crocs intruding into water bodies of villages bordering the sanctuary. This often triggers human-crocodile conflicts.

“The crocodiles are being spotted in areas outside the animals’ usual habitation corridors. The water bodies where they are being sighted are close to human habitations. Thus, local settlers are better positioned to spot the animals than the forest personnel. The introduction of cash incentives to those who pass on the information is an attempt to inculcate animal-friendly attitude in villagers,” Mahapatra said.

The move is already showing the desired results. Nearly a dozen croc sighting have been reported to the forest department. The forest personnel has swung into action to chase away the reptiles back to their habitation corridors. The local residents, who have provided the information, would soon be rewarded, forest officials said. During the breeding and nesting season, crocs often turn violent over acts of human interference. Local residents in these areas have thus been advised to remain extra cautious while venturing into water bodies.

After studies on the wandering behaviour of crocodiles, it has now been found that the upstream of Brahmani, Baitarani and Kharasrota river systems are emerging as ideal an habitation corridor for estuarine crocodiles. This is due to rise in hyper-salinity content in the river water.

As these river-systems are dotted with thickly-populated human settlements, the area has become a focal point of man-croc conflicts. The villagers have been advised not to step into the water and instead use the bathing ghats erected on the embankment sites by the forest department. They were also advised to use tubewells and wells for bathing.