Over the past month, residents of Alapakkam and Sadanandapuram near Vandalur have spotted three crocodiles in a waterbody in their area.
Alapakkam Thangal is a small waterbody located close to Vandalur Forest Range and people in the vicinity are now frightened.
According to locals, the crocodiles emerge during the morning hours to feed and then rest on big sized stones in the waterbody. The biggest crocodile, they said, is about four feet long. The other two are relatively smaller. As heat rises, they crawl back into the waterbody, residents told Forest Department officials.
With two large waterbodies in the suburb quickly drying up, crocodiles are often spotted on dry lake beds.
“In summer, we often spot crocodiles moving from dry lake beds to parts of the waterbody that have water. Sometimes, the crocodiles disappear into the thick forests near the lake before we can alert anybody,” said Shanmugam, a resident of Alapakkam.
Last Tuesday, a farmer found a marsh crocodile on the dry bed of Thangal lake. Forest officials rushed to the spot but could not locate it.
Officials said this is the second such incident since February 2014 when a 5.5-feet-long female crocodile was spotted by residents on the bed of Nedunkundram lake. Forest officials relocated it to Vandalur zoo.
Forest officials said crocodiles were in Sadanandapuram lake as well. This lake is fast drying up. Since 2007, more than half a dozen marsh crocodiles have been rescued from areas adjoining the zoo, said a forest official. “These areas have several freshwater lakes and marsh crocodiles thrive here,” he added.
Wildlife officials have visited Thangal lake a few times but could not trap the crocodiles as the water level is high. “If they come out we can easily catch them with the equipment we have,” a forest official in the zoo said.
