Residents of Salam Khar Dangi village are living in fear of a crocodile. Local people suddenly spotted it in a pond in the village last Saturday morning.

Announcements were then made by loudspeaker warning people not to go into the pond. Meanwhile, curious crowds from nearby areas have been gathering at the water to see the crocodile.

Inquiries show that there is a pond about 300 feet long and 200 feet wide in Salam Khar Dangi village, in the 38 Dag area of North Channel union in Faridpur Sadar. The crocodile has made it its home.

Residents said that on Sunday Hazrat Miah, 36, a fisherman from the village, caught a large boal fish in the Padma. To keep it alive, he tied a rope through its mouth and left it submerged in the pond. When he pulled on the rope a little later to bring the fish up, he saw the crocodile.

Locals said a narrow channel runs from the Padma to near the pond. As the river level fell, the water in the channel dried up. The crocodile, perhaps while chasing fish, came into the pond and became trapped.

Confirming the incident, Md Mostakuzzaman, chairman of North Channel Union Parishad, said the crocodile is about five feet long. Panic has spread since it was seen in the area, and the forest department has been advised to take the necessary steps.

Md Saidur Rahman, range officer of the forest department in Faridpur Sadar, said he visited the site on Sunday. The pond where the crocodile is staying is 15 to 20 feet deep, which makes catching it there quite difficult. Instead, chickens and ducks are being tied at the mouth of the channel through which it entered, to lure it out. If this does not succeed within two or three days, the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division office in Khulna will be informed, so the crocodile can be removed from the pond and released elsewhere.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.