Crocodile rescued from Pune canal
Crocodile rescued from Pune canal
Trapped in the Khadakwasla Canal, the reptile was rescued after more than 20 hours of chaos.

Pune: A six-feet-long crocodile that strayed into the Khadakwasla Canal on Monday evening was finally rescued on Tuesday after more than 20 hours of chaos. A joint effort by the Katraj Zoo, the Irrigation Department (ID), the National Defence Academy (NDA), the Forest Department and locals helped rescue the reptile. PMC officials were also summoned and apprised of the situation.

On Monday, local boys spotted the crocodile in the canal around 6 pm and started pelting stones at it. Though fire brigade and zoo workers rushed to the spot, the rescue operation that went on till late in the night was a failure because of clamouring locals.

A Forest Department worker even managed to catch the beast, but it slipped out of his hand and escaped. The Irrigation Department curtailed water supply to the canal from the dam for one hour yesterday, from 12.45 am to 1.45 am, and then twice again for about an hour each later in the day.

N D Gaikwad, sectional engineer of the dam, said the PMC was informed before reducing the water flow. PMC city engineer (water supply) Prashant Waghmare said the city received low pressure water for about three hours in the day. "The supply has been restored and is back to normal," he said.

The next day saw the reptile disappearing and bobbing up repeatedly with rescuers patiently positioning the nets to trap it. Here, too, some of the locals disturbed the operation by jumping into the canal to catch fish released along with the dam waters. The crocodile was finally captured around 4.30 pm.

"It will be first taken to Katraj Zoo, from where it will be transferred to the Forest Department," said Hari Ghadge, animal keeper at the Katraj Zoo.

Local residents crowded into the Khadakwasla canal to catch fish released along with the waters from the dam. The 'fish rush' greatly hampered the crocodile rescue operation.

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