Athagarh: Forest staff of Athagarh Wildlife Division recovered a dead female crocodile floating on Mahanadi river at Nandailo village near Kandarpur in Cuttack district on Monday morning.
Reports said the villagers had seen a crocodile moving in a gorge of Mahanadi on Sunday and informed the forest officials. However, the forest staff reached the site on Monday morning and recovered the dead crocodile from the river.
During the post mortem of the 7-feet long female crocodile at the Athagarh veterinary hospital, the forest staff found eggs from her ovary.
Talking to media persons, Ranger of Athagarh Wildlife Division, Goura Gopal Singh said though the exact cause of the death of the female crocodile was yet to be established, the veterinary surgeon had said the death could be due to anaemia as the crocodile had remained without food for a long time.
“During post mortem, we have found eggs inside the ovary of the crocodile whose age would be over 12 years. We have sent the post mortem report along with the liver, spleen and intestine of the crocodile to the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) in Bhubaneswar to know the exact cause of the death,” Singh added.