Paradip, Oct. 17: Forest personnel in Kendrapara district caught a 3.5-feet-long female estuarine crocodile alive, which had strayed from the Bhitarkanika river system into a village pond.

Fear of crocodile attacks had gripped riverside village Silipur in the Marshagha tehsil limits with reports of reptile intrusion into the creek and peripheral water inlets in the adjoining areas.

The crocodile was captured from a pond near Marshagha after the reptile was caught in the fishing net laid by the local fishermen. Spotting the reptile in the fishing net, the fishermen immediately informed police and forest officials.

"We captured it alive. The crocodile is safe and no injury has been caused to it," said Kendrapara forest range officer Himanshu Kumar Muduli.

The crocodile had strayed into the water body from salt-water creeks of Bhitarkanika. It could have reached the pond through high tides of the creek.

The crocodile was handed over to the national park authorities, who later released it into the Bhitarkanika river system, Muduli said.

The forest department had earlier sounded an alert asking people to stay away from the water bodies.

"We were relieved after the crocodile had been caught. Crocodiles were never spotted here before," said local resident Raghb Parida.

The water bodies traversing through Marshaghai-Mahakalpada are connected to salt-water river system of Bhitarkanika National Park.

Local people have lodged a police complaint about the crocodiles' existence in the water bodies here. Rajnagar mangrove (forest) division officer Bimal Prasanna Acharya said that if required, the department would engage its service groups of skilled fishermen to drive the reptiles away.

The crocodiles usually stray in search of food and they leave the place within a few days, said a forest official.