Hyderabad: A nearly 10-foot long crocodile was rescued by forest department officials on Friday from a large unused well at Mubaraknagar village in Medak district. The operation lasted at least five hours.
An official who took part in the operation said: “The well had turned into a sewer filled with drain water. Lot of garbage too had accumulated inside. On Thursday night, we started pumping out water from the well using three motors after which we brought in an earth mover to remove all the garbage around the well.
It had turned into a swamp of filth. And once the cleaning concluded, we got into the well which was absolutely marshy. We then saw the crocodile move suddenly and caught it. We will be releasing it into the wild on Saturday after some health checks.”
According to officials the giant croc may have been living in the well for at least a year. Officials said the well was connected by a stream to the Manjeera river which is home to at least 400 crocodiles.
When the river must have been full with water, the crocodile must have swam in through the connecting stream and must have got stuck in the well. But since the rains have been less the Manjeera rive dried out - leaving the crocodile stuck in the well.
Last year, forest staff from the Manjeera wildlife sanctuary and Medak Wildlife division conducted more than 20 rescue operations of crocodiles from various places in the district along the Manjeera river.
