Giant 21 Foot Crocodile Captured
Giant 21 Foot Crocodile Captured in Philippines
A giant 21 foot crocodile weighing in at about a ton was caught by a group of villagers in the Philippines, possibly making this the largest crocodile captured alive ever.
The giant crocodile has been plaguing the town for years, as it reportedly attacked and killed a water buffalo last month according to witnesses and possibly a fisherman and child who have been missing since July.
Residents use their hands to measure a 21 feet (6.4 metres) saltwater crocodile, which is suspected of having attacked several people, after it was caught in Nueva Era in Bunawan town, Agusan del Sur, southern Philippines September 4, 2011. The crocodile captured on Sunday evening weighs 600 kg and is the largest crocodile caught in the country to date, according to the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center.
Villagers and veteran hunters of Bunawan, 515 miles southeast of the capital Manila, caught the crocodile after a hunt which lasted about three weeks.
It took nearly 100 people to pull the 2,370 pound crocodile out of a nearby creek where it was caught in sturdy traps with steel cables. A crane lifted the giant crocodile to a truck where it was placed in a caged-off area under the control of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
"We were nervous but it's our duty to deal with a threat to the villagers," Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde told The Associated Press by telephone. "When I finally stood before it, I couldn't believe my eyes."
The town plans to use the giant 21 foot crocodile as an exhibit, along with other species found in the marshland, in an ecotourism park to be built in the future.
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