12 feet long crocodile spotted in Jayakwadi backwaters

Sixth sighting since 2006

Aurangabad, Oct 13:

A huge crocodile about 12 feet long was found in the backwater area of Jayakwadi dam on Wednesday morning. Crocodiles were also seen in the dam in October last year. Ganesh Kharadkar, engineer, dam control room has appealed to not to swim in the dam and to exercise caution while walking in the premises. This is the sixth sighting of a crocodile since 2006.

The 12 feet long crocodile was spotted by some farmers in the morning. The crocodile stayed at the same place for about two hours. As a result, farmers and fishermen on the banks of the reservoir were scared. The frequent sightings of crocodiles have again underlined the existence of crocodiles in the dam. According to sources, the crocodile came into the dam during the 2006 floods. In the same year, crocodile babies were caught in fishing nets. Since then there was no spotting of the crocodile. However, the Parbhani forest department released a crocodile in the dam in 2015. This action of the forest department was opposed by the locals including the Jayakwadi administration. On November 8, 2017, a giant crocodile was found walking on the road from Paithan to South Jayakwadi in the dam area. Some youths from Paithan had caught the crocodile and handed it over to the forest department. The crocodile was then handed over to the Pench sanctuary administration at Nagpur by the forest department.

Possibility of many crocodiles

The freshwater crocodile usually comes out of the dam in November to lay eggs. The crocodile lays 20 to 25 eggs at a time. In November 2017, a crocodile was spotted coming out of the deserted area of the dam's fish seed farm near Jayakwadi. Therefore, it was speculated that the crocodile may have laid eggs.