Villagers in Sri Lanka Were Able to Save the Life of an Enormous Crocodile

17 feet long and weighing around 2,000 pounds, the very least we can say is that this crocodile that was discovered in 2016 in the south of Sri Lanka is pretty impressive. But that didn’t stop it from needing the assistance of nearby residents. The animal was discovered after getting itself stuck in a canal in the town of Matara.

According to the Daily Mail, the crocodile is considered one of the biggest specimens ever documented in all of Sri Lanka. After hunting off the shores of the Nilwala River, it, unfortunately, ended up getting itself trapped in a canal after heavy rain had caused the water levels to rise. Unable to get itself out, it was later found by residents from the surrounding areas.

A successful rescue mission

Wildlife officials in the area were notified and aid workers were quickly dispatched to the area to try and get the animal out of its sticky, distressful situation. With the assistance of a team of volunteers, the rescue team did, however, have to use tools to help move the giant reptile back to its home in the river: an excavator and a truck to be precise.

But even with the help of these machines, the operation proved to be very delicate work and they needed to use a lot of elbow grease and care when dealing with the animal who was obviously quite stressed out by the situation. But ‘with the help of the villagers and the police we achieved what we wanted, which was to send the crocodile back to where he came from without hurting it in any way,’ explained wildlife department official, Ravindra Kumar, in a statement.

According to him, the animal was unable to get itself out because of its weight and size. It would never have been able to get back to its original habitat without human assistance. It’s worth mentioning that this animal wasn’t far off breaking the world record for largest crocodile captured alive. This particular famous wild crocodile was named Lolong and was caught in Bunawan in Agusan in the south of the Philippines. It measured 20.2 feet long and weighed roughly 2,370 pounds.