Crocodile killed in Bhitarkanika

"We have retrieved the bloated body of a seven-foot-long male crocodile from near Bijoynagar ghat under Aul police station area on Friday morning.

"The body bore injury marks. As per our probe, the reptile got entangled in mono-filament fishing net. Later it was beaten to death as it failed to get out of the net probably last night," Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Division, said.

With the latest casualty, three salt-water crocodiles perished during the past two months, he said.

"With salt-water crocodiles constantly on the prowl in the peripheral villages of the wildlife sanctuary, villagers are living under lurking threat from these man-eating reptiles.

"As crocodile attacks were mostly reported from prohibited water-bodies, those injured did not come under compensation package of the state forest department," he said.