Rescue of marsh crocodile washed away by floods in Tiruvannamalai

Forest officials have ruled out the possibility of crocodiles escaping from the government crocodile farm inside the dam area.

The forest department on Tuesday rescued a crocodile that had entered the corridor of a water channel in the Sathanur dam in Tiruvannamalai.

Acting on a tip-off by Water Resources Department (WRD) officials at 6.30 am, a four-member team headed by A Viswanathan, Crocodile Farm (Sathanur) Forest Zone Officer, went to the spot.

District Forest Officer Yogesh Kumar Darag was also informed.

“Unlike mud or water where it can move faster, the reptile found it difficult to crawl on the concrete floor of the dam area. It took us about two hours to release it into the river (Thenpennai),” Mr Viswanathan told The Hindu.

Forest officials have ruled out the possibility of crocodiles escaping from the government crocodile farm inside the dam area.

Established in 1977, the crocodile farm – 4,832 square feet of panning and on the edge of a children’s park – has 395 swamp crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) and a few fish grottos.

The forest officials said that the reptile was washed away by the river during the recent floods. Due to heavy rains, nearly 200,000 cusecs of excess water was released into the river recently. Because of this, the Rs 15.90 crore bridge that was inaugurated three months ago also collapsed.

“Usually visitors come to the dam area where the crocodiles were rescued only at 8 am. Incidents of crocodiles entering the dam area are common. We have deployed additional personnel to alert higher authorities in such situations,” the WRD official said.

Forest officials said they are planning to take preventive measures like installing alarms and CCTV cameras, especially in the visitor areas of the dam.

He said that since the crocodile farm is about 500 meters away from the dam area, the forest officials reached the spot quickly and managed to prevent any untoward incident.