A crocodile measuring over a meter and a half long was captured in the community of Bajos de Chila, about 15 minutes from Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.

The reptile had been attacking farm animals in their pens on a farm, whose owner complained to authorities. 

“He told us that there was a crocodile in a pool there at his farm and well, it had already started to eat the chickens, and he was afraid that later on he would start eating his sheep and goats. So he asked us to locate this specimen,” said José Antonio Ramírez, of the Civil Protection agency.

Officials found the croc, which weighed more than 60 kilos, after draining the pool it was sheltering in.

Civil Protection suspects the crocodile must have left one of the mangrove swamps in nearby Manialtepec lagoon. The animal was released in its natural habitat in an unpopulated area. 

In Oaxaca, crocodiles occasionally come into contact with people. A fisherman was attacked by a crocodile while taking a nap on the Boca Barra beach, just south of Puerto Escondido, last November, suffering lacerations to his arm, leg and head.

Early this week reports surfaced of people posing for photos with a large crocodile in  Tomás Garrido park in Villahermosa, Tabasco. Women, children and entire families had their photo taken with the animal that was sunbathing on a rock wall. One man lifted the two-meter-long crocodile’s tail for a photo.

According to CrocBITE, a worldwide database of crocodile attacks, there have been 10 attacks on humans in Mexico thus far this year, with one fatality.

In May a 4-year-old boy was dragged off by a crocodile in San Blas, Nayarit. The crocodile was located several hours later, but officials had to shoot it repeatedly in order to recover the child’s lifeless body.

Source: Televisa (sp)