Gujarat: Thirsty crocodile crawls into house kitchen

Vadodara:Radhaben Gohil, a resident of Raval village near here in Gujarat, says she is a hospitable woman but had never expected, even in her wildest imaginations, that a crocodile would ever find comfort in her kitchen.

The incident occurred early this morning when Gohil's 19-year-old daughter Nimisha, who was sleeping in the backyard of their house, entered the kitchen to fetch a glass of water at around 5 am, Gohil told reporters.

"My daughter woke me up and said a crocodile is lying on the floor of the kitchen. I believed her after seeing the reptile, which is around 4.5 feet long, myself" recalled Gohil, adding that the reptile didn't attack her or her family members.

It was trying to drink water from a pot kept inside the kitchen, she said.

Meanwhile, villagers rushed to the house of the Gohils after the word spread.

Gohil said the door of her house was kept open in the night for fresh air, and that the crocodile might have crawled through it to the kitchen.

"I don't know how a crocodile crawled its way to her house," she said, adding that it might have come from a small lake located behind her house.

The Narmada water canal also passes from the outskirts of the village.

Forest personnel and members of an NGO caught the reptile after more than two hours.

It was released in Ajva lake, located nearly two kms away from the village, said forest officer M Gohil.

In the past, incidents of crocodiles entering residential areas were reported from Karelibag and Pratapnagar localities in Vadodara and also in Padre town in the district.

Wildlife activists said a large number of crocodiles are found in the Vishwamitri river that runs through the middle of Vadodara.