Crocodile on Vadodara road: Why cleaning of Vishwamitri canals has some from the species looking for new territories

In the last three weeks, as many as nine crocodiles have been rescued from various parts of the city and handed over to the forest department.

Officials said Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s (VMC) extensive project of cleaning culverts and canals linked to the Vishwamitri as part of the flood-mitigation plan has resulted in some baby and sub-adult crocodiles emerging in city areas close to the river and its network of canals in search of new territories.

The incident captured in the viral video is from Wednesday, they said.

Vadodara Range Forest Officer Karansinh Rajput told The Indian Express: “About eight or nine crocodiles have been rescued so far since mid-June…They are all about two feet long and have mostly emerged from the nallahs in the nearby areas. They were rescued by animal activists and brought to the forest department. According to the procedure, we keep them under observation for two days and if there are no injuries that need treatment, they are released back into the Vishwamitri.”

Rajput said unlike these baby and sub-adult crocodiles, the larger species get trapped in residential areas only when river water floods the city.

Dr Pratyush Patankar, curator of the VMC-run Sayajibaug zoo, who was on the panel of the Vishwamitri project to supervise the shifting of crocodiles if needed, told The Indian Express that the cleaning of the culverts has meant that the agencies have “realised for the first time” that the crocodiles also reside and mark territories in the canals.

Patankar said, “After the desilting and dredging, Vishwamitri has taken the shape of a river… The culverts are now being cleaned and it is likely that these crocodiles were inhabiting the culverts. No one paid attention to this. Now that the river is being cleaned to remove obstructions in its flow, we are seeing baby crocodiles and even adults in the kaans (a kind of canal).”

He further said, “On Friday morning, an adult crocodile was found in the Ruparel kaans… We are noticing them now because we are entering these areas to clean them up. If you speak of Bhukhi kaans that passes through the MS University campus, sub-adult crocodiles have been spotted there very often. As the vegetation is being removed, their hideouts are disappearing, making them look for new territory.”

Since March last year, VMC and the state irrigation department have been carrying out desilting and dredging of Vishwamitri river along its approximately 50-km course.

Patankar said that being territorial in nature and also recorded cannibals, baby crocodiles prefer to “move to safe places” when adults of the species establish their territory. “Crocodiles stay with their mothers for about a year… Parental care as a character is well documented in mammals and birds, but in reptiles, it has not been (the case)… Reptiles are self-sufficient since birth. Once they separate from their mothers, they keep moving to find their territory. They are driven away from areas where adult crocodiles have established their territories,” he said.

“Size matters among reptiles especially in fierce territorial fights; cannibalism is well documented, too. So, the babies and sub-adults try to move away from the territory of adult crocodiles,” he added.

Patankar said that the crocodiles prefer to migrate during night hours, which explains why most of the rescues are made at night or in the wee hours. “They travel between water bodies. They can walk long distances and they prefer to move at night,” he said.