After monkey deaths, croc’s body found

MUMBAI: The body of a crocodile with serious head injuries and a bloated abdomen was found recently near Vihar lake. This comes after the recent mysterious deaths of monkeys due to suspected poisoning at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

Forest officials said a person had been arrested in the monkey deaths case near Tulsi lake early in February, while a probe is on into the crocodile death.

Animal activist Sachin Roy told TOI, “It is baffling that there have been so many unnatural deaths at the national park in a month. We have sent some more photos of dead monkeys (near Tulsi lake) and the dead crocodile, which was found on February 11. A thorough probe needs to be conducted to check if anyone is deliberately killing the animals.”

Chief conservator of forest at SGNP, Vikas Gupta, told TOI, “The crocodile was found near Vihar lake, which falls under the jurisdiction of the civic authorities. But we are probing the cause of death.” On the unnatural monkey deaths, Gupta said, “There have not been any more deaths of bonnet macaques (monkey species) since the February 7 incident. While the post-mortem report said ‘suspected poisoning’, we have sent the bodies for forensic analysis to know which poison was used.”

A letter to the forest department by NGO Peace for Animals Welfare Association (PAWA) activist Salim Charania stated, “The dead crocodile’s photograph shows a broken jaw and other head injuries, besides a swollen stomach. We will cooperate with the forest officials to fully investigate these cases.”

Some officials said the crocodile death may have been natural but its body was later mauled by other wild animals.