Fire service personnel and villagers on Friday recovered body parts of a 55-year-old-man, dragged by a crocodile into the Brahmani river in Pattamundai block in Kendrapara district on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Amulya Das of Kulasahi village, who had gone to the riverbed to attend nature’s call at around 830 pm. This is the fourth such case of a crocodile attack in the past 45 days in Kendrapara district which is home to the Bhitarkanika national park, where endangered estuarine or saltwater crocodiles reside. After hearing screams on Thursday evening, locals rushed towards the river bank and began searching for the source. The fire service personnel also launched a rescue operation and eventually recovered the severed head of Das after hours of searching. On June 29, Gangadhara Tarai, 56, of Ghagaradiha village in Pattamundai block was dragged by a deadly reptile when he was bathing in a water body near his village. On June 21, Sitarani Das, 40, from Hatiagadi village in Rajnagar block died after she was attacked by a crocodile when she was washing utensils in the village pond. Similarly, a crocodile pounced on Ashutosh Acharya, a student of Nimpur village when he was bathing along with his mother in the Brahmani river. The mutilated body of the boy was later recovered by the rescue team. These incidents have largely occurred outside the Bhitarkanika national park area, triggering panic among locals. “Mishaps generally occur when people enter the animal’s habitat. Crocodiles have entered the village canal due to high tide and attacked villagers. No action has been taken despite several complaints,” said a villager. On July 19, forest officials rescued a 13-feet male saltwater crocodile from a canal at Mahulia village on the fringes of Bhitarkanika national park area and released the animal into the wild. “We are creating awareness programmes to contain mishaps. We have also taken steps to fence bathing ghats so that reptiles cannot enter the area,” SK Popli, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife) told The Indian Express. The next of kin of victims of crocodile attacks will get compensation of Rs 6 lakh from the government. The Bhitarkanika National Park and adjoining regions are home to 1,793 saltwater crocodiles, according to the annual reptile census conducted in January this year.
