Mumbai: 9-foot-long crocodile rescued from residential society in Mulund

A 9-foot-long crocodile was rescued from a residential housing society in Mulund, Mumbai on Sunday morning

A nine-foot-long crocodile was rescued on Sunday, after it strayed into a residential housing society in the Mulund area in Mumbai.

A 9-foot-long crocodile was rescued in Mulund by RAWW and the Mumbai forest department (Photo credit: Yogesh Naik/Hindustan Times)

A wildlife welfare group representative told PTI that the crocodile was rescued on Sunday morning by members of the Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) in coordination with forest department officials.

The forest department control room had received a distress call earlier about a huge crocodile being spotted at the Nirmal Lifestyle housing society in Mulund area.

Pawar Sharma, founder of the RAWW and honorary wildlife warden with the forest department, stated that the female Indian Marsh crocodile was rescued at 6:30 am. After a medical examination by Dr. Priti Sathe and Dr. Kirti Sathe, associate veterinarians with RAWW, the crocodile was deemed fit and released into its natural habitat, according to a Hindustan Times reporter.

In July, a crocodile was seen in Mumbai's Mithi river as well, causing panic among citizens. However, the river is its natural habitat, and people were warned to not respect the creature and not venture into the river. In the same month, a large crocodile took people in Chiplun by surprise after it was found strolling on a main road amid heavy rainfall.

Due to flooding caused by rains, crocodile sightings near rivers in Maharashtra and Gujarat have been reported often.

In Vadodara, 24 crocodiles were rescued in just 2 days after the Vishwamitra river flooded due to extreme rainfall. The crocodiles were disturbed from their place and were forced to enter residential areas close to the riverbed. However, no humans were harmed by the crocodiles.

(With inputs from PTI and Hindustan Times reporter Yogesh Naik)