A female saltwater crocodile found dead in the Hansua river near Badakota village on November 3 was the fifth reported crocodile death in 27 days in and around Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha's Kendrapara district, Down To Earth reports.
Four others were found earlier: a 4.26-metre male in the Brahmani river on October 6, a 1.12-metre female in the Hansua on October 22, a 2.13-metre female washed ashore on the Brahmani on October 24 and a 1.88-metre female in the Luna river on October 25.
Post-mortems have been carried out and tissue samples sent to the Centre for Wildlife Health at the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology. "The exact causes of death will be established once the reports are received," said Varadaraj Gaonkar, the park's divisional forest officer.
Herpetologist Sudhakar Kar, a former wildlife researcher with the state forest department, attributed the deaths to inadequate protection of the park and nearby waters, where he alleges illegal fishing continues despite a ban. Crocodiles can become entangled in prohibited nets and drown or suffocate, he said. "We are losing potentially breeding-age males and females," he said.
The latest death brings the reported toll from unnatural deaths to 22 in six years and 44 in 14 years. The conservation programme begun in 1975, when the population was estimated at 95, has brought the park to 1,858 saltwater crocodiles in the January 2026 census.
Reporting by Ashis Senapati for Down To Earth.
Photo: Souvik221917 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Down To Earth
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