Janampet: Crocodile entered the house

Wanaparthy: A house owner in Janampet village of Srirangapur mandal was in for a shock on Tuesday when he spotted a crocodile near the bathroom of his house. After a five-hour rescue operation, forest officials along with volunteers of Sagar Snake Society caught the crocodile and released it in the Krishna river at Beechupally. Around 3.45 am, disturbed by the repeated barking of street dogs, the house owner Naganna woke up and saw the crocodile, which must have entered the house from the nearby Ramasamudram drain after being chased by stray dogs. Immediately the house owner dialled 108 and they informed the forest officials and Sagar Snake Society.

After being alerted by beat constable Ramesh, a team of volunteers led by Krishna Sagar, who works as a home guard, and forest officials reached Naganna’s house. First they tried to cover the crocodile’s snout with a cloth so that it is not visible and later tied the snout with a rope to avoid any attack. After successfully capturing the crocodile, Krishna Sagar, founder of Sagar Snake Society, said it was taken from the village in a gram panchayat tractor and released into the Krishna river at Beechupally. During monsoon, when the Krishna river flows downstream from Karnataka through the Almatti and Narayanpur projects, around 300 to 400 crocodiles are washed away. They try to take refuge in agricultural fields of villages adjoining the river in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he said. Like crocodiles, spotted deer and blackbucks also come to the villages in large numbers from upper areas or islands after the water level in the river rises, he said.