Forest dept to set up 6 centres to rescue crocodiles from Sangli villages, post floods

PUNE The Maharashtra forest department is in the process of setting up six centres in Sangli and areas nearby, to rescue reptiles and avoid incidents of human-animal conflict

PUNE The Maharashtra forest department is in the process of setting up six centres in Sangli and areas nearby, to rescue reptiles and avoid incidents of human-animal conflict. This comes after crocodiles were spotted in some residential localities as the flood waters receded on Tuesday.

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The floods triggered by heavy rains hit Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara, inundating several areas of these districts.

Later, as the rain ebbed and water levels in villages along the banks of the Krishna river began to recede, crocodiles were spotted on some roads, in drains, and even on roofs of houses, triggering panic among people.

According to forest officials, crocodiles inhabit a 60-70 km river stretch, passing through around 15 villages, including Bhilwadi, Malwadi, Digraj, Audumbarwadi, Chopadewadi and Brahmnal. In the past, there have been incidents of human-animal conflicts in some of these areas.

“During the recent heavy rains, crocodiles were swept away along with the flood waters into some villages,” P G Sutar, regional forest officer, Sangli range, said.

“In one case, a crocodile was spotted on the roof of a house, but the animal later returned to the river along with the flow of water,” he said.

Vijay Mane, deputy conservator of forest (Sangli), said the forest department has now set up six centres near some flood-hit areas of Sangli city, Kavthe Mahakal, Palus, Kadegaon, Walwa and part of Tasgaon, to rescue crocodiles.

At these rescue centres, teams comprising forest officials, guards and members from NGOs working for wildlife conservation will respond to calls of the presence of crocodiles, snakes, injured birds and other wild animals in human habitats, he said.

“We have circulated a toll-free helpline number (1926) and personal numbers of forest officials and NGO members. If someone calls to inform about the presence of a crocodile or any other wild animal, the team from the nearest centre will go there, rescue the animal and initiate a process to release it into its natural habitat,” the official said.

The objective of these rescue centres is to prevent any harm to the wild animals and minimise incidents of human-animal conflict, he added.

Tabreg Khan, a member of the NGO Nature Conservation Society in Sangli, claimed the natural habitat of crocodiles along the Krishna river has been destroyed due to indiscriminate sand excavation.

“Now, during floods, the animals easily get swept away towards villages,” he rued, and appealed to people not to harm crocodiles and inform the forest department and NGOs if they spot a reptile in their area.

Amol Jadhav, another member of the NGO, asked people not to panic.

He also said several videos of crocodiles venturing into villages were doing the rounds, but most of them were either of the 2019 floods in Sangli, or in other parts of the country.

(With agency inputs)