12-foot-long crocodile greets morning walkers on VIP road

Vadodara: Barodians out for a walk on Sunday morning on the New VIP Road were stunned for a moment. As they strolled on a road near their residential colony, their eyes fell on a huge crocodile lying just a few feet away. While most walkers turned back and headed home, some tried to take a closer look.“We got a call in the morning that a huge crocodile was seen crawling near Siddharth Park society which is a densely populated area,” said Arvind Pawar of Wildlife Rescue Trust. The 12-foot-long crocodile growled furiously when the volunteers tried to rescue it.It took them about one and a half hours to rescue the big reptile that was later handed over to the forest department. “The crocodile must have come out of Vishwamitri river that flows nearby. During monsoon, the water level in the river swells so many crocodiles venture out and migrate to some other water body,” Pawar added.The reptiles usually migrate during the night and can often crawl for several kilometers. Vishwamitri river is home to nearly 280 crocodiles while many of the lakes in the city are abodes of the reptiles.