2 crocs caught in Nedunkundram lake

CHENNAI: It's a wild world out there in the suburbs. Villagers of Nedunkundram near Vandalur, 35 km south of city, have caught two crocodiles from a lake in consecutive days. While a female croc weighing 30 kg was caught on Thursday, a small marsh crocodile (mugger crocodile) weighing about 15 kg was netted on Friday. The Nedunkundram lake is the only water body on which six villages depend on for farming, fishing, bathing and washing cattle.
At 7 am on Friday, some of the villagers fishing in the lake saw a crocodile in their net.They alerted forest department officials, who in turn informed officials of the Arignar Anna Zoological park in Vandalur, which is hardly two kilometers from the lake.
"I was shocked to see a crocodile along the fish catch, that too the very next day after a bigger crocodile was caught. Residents are scared to use the lake because of the presence of the reptiles," said K Vetriselvan, a resident. In less than a year, according to zoo officials, 15 crocodiles, both small and big of mugger variety, were caught from the Nedunkundram lake. With Friday's catch, the Vandalur has a total of 247 crocodiles of all varieties in eight enclaves. The zoo has 122 mugger crocodiles.
During lean farming season, the lake provides an alternative source of livelihood for residents of Nedunkundran, Alapakkam, Kolapakkam, Sadanandapuram, Vandalur and Veerapuram who take to fishing. Several women and children have stopped going to the lake for taking bath. Even fishing is done in groups, though there has been no incident of a crocodile attacking a human being.
Zoo officials said the crocodiles in the lake must be originally from the enclosure in the zoo. "For several years, the crocodile enclosure in the zoo had remained uncovered, without a net above. It is easy for big birds to snatch baby crocodiles, which weigh only 50 grams, and fly away. Midflight, they could have dropped some of them into the lake," a zoo official said.
The city's southern suburbs have about 300 water bodies, most of them lakes which have become habitats of crocodiles. Four years ago, zoo officials had gone on a wild goose chase after several crocodiles went missing from their enclosure. This prompted them to cover the enclosure with nylon netting.