Walkers and joggers on the walking path along the Pitillal River outside Puerto Vallarta got a surprise Wednesday when a large crocodile meandered across the path from the river to the woods. Captured on social media, the massive reptile, nearly 4 meters long, saunters across the walkway without seeming to even notice his human observers.

Called by onlookers, the “green patrol” of the local government’s Citizens Security Commission located and captured the crocodile, which is believed to have escaped from a reptile sanctuary nearby.

In an attempt to reinforce the municipality’s commitment to preserving the area’s flora and fauna, members of the patrol checked to make sure the crocodile was healthy and unharmed and then proceeded to tag it in order to eventually it him back into the wild.

Citizens that reported the sighting to the newspaper Noticias PV are reported to have asked officials not to demonize the animal for its presence, because the area where the park is located is the natural habitat of this kind of reptile and human beings have to learn to live with it.

According to information from the University of Guadalajara there are approximately 250 crocodiles in the area, mostly around Boca de Tomatlán and Boca Negra, and only 40 of them are adults.

Ever increasing urban sprawl and human settlement in the areas that the crocodiles once called home are making sightings of them more and more common. Several crocodile sanctuaries have been set up along the coast near Puerto Vallarta including the El Salado estuary and La Cora.

With reports from Noticias PV