A simple rescue mission turned into a challenging for a Raigad-based animal welfare group.
What seemed like a simple rescue of a crocodile from a pond located on a 12-acre private island in Savitri river delta at Mahad, turned out to be a challenging mission for a Raigad-based animal welfare organisation lasting for almost two days.
According to Ganesh Mehendale of Organisation for Wild Life Studies (OWLS) they received a phone call from the owner of the island at Dasgaon area at Mahad. "Three rescuers reached the spot on May 14 and found that there was not one but three crocodiles in the 100 feet X 100 feet pond that was used for aqua-culture and it was decided to de-water the pond," said Mehendale adding that as the pond was being emptied they realised that there were actually four crocodiles.
In fact the rescuers had made assumptions that after de-watering the pond they could guide the crocodiles towards the river in order to avoid capture and release, which traumatises the animals. However, their plans went for a toss once the entire pond was empty as the pond, which was used for aqua-culture had a huge tarpaulin sheet laid as its base due to which the crocodiles found it could not get a grip and climb out.
“Since there were four crocodiles we took a call to wait that night at the island itself and so that next morning we could call more rescuers. However late at night while keeping a watch on crocodiles one of the rescuer who decided to do the count using the torch was in for another surprise as he realised that there was another smaller crocodile that they had missed,” informed Abhijeet Gharat, another volunteer.
On May 15, the team that included Yogesh Gurav, Chintan Vaishnav, Avinash Bhoir, Kapil Joshi, Bobby Joshi, Chirag Mehta and Abhijeet Gharat grouped again and the seven rescuers planned their strategies to rescue the five crocodiles - the shortest being four feet to the longest at around eight feet to be rescued.
“We got ropes and made knots to ensure we could get it entangled in the jaw and pull these crocs and then tie up their jaws, which is not as easy as its sound as one mistake can end taking a human life or injuring the croc,” said another volunteer.
After eight hours of back-breaking effort by the team they managed to pull all the five crocodiles out
Mehendale shared that since the river already has a good crocodile population and it was understood that these five must have somehow managed to enter the pond from the river somehow itself they were of the opinion that the release should be done as close as possible to the island. “The owner of the island too was keen that in no manner the crocodile be released far off from their territory so we released all the crocodiles 150 meters away from the pond into the river," he said.
In fact the team was also left impressed by the owner who showed them two live nests of crocodiles on his island and informed that he had asked his staff to not use the path where the nests were present to ensure that there is no disturbance. OWLS volunteers also suggested that the owner should get a fencing done around the pond to avoid future instances of crocodiles ending up inside the pond.
Savitri river originates from Mahabaleshwar and flows through Raigad district and eventually culminates in Arabian sea at Harehareshwar. There are several islands formed near Mahad and is known to have a high crocodile populations.
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