Nile crocodile in Valladolid river? The trail gets 'otter...
Wednesday, June 10, 2020 @ 7:14 PM
A REPORTED sighting of a Nile crocodile where two rivers meet in centre-northern Spain and footprints which could be those of a giant reptile have led to a mass police search – but zoologists are keen to calm the furore.
Local Police in Simancas, in the province of Valladolid (Castilla y León) received several calls at around noon on Saturday saying they had seen a 1.5-metre (4'11”) crocodile of the type found in the river Nile in Egypt and Sudan, in the confluence of the Pisuerga and Duero rivers.
A police officer also thought he had seen it in the water.
Several areas on the Pesquerela tow-path have been cordoned off as the Guardia Civil's environmental wing, SEPRONA, searches for the croc.
They say if, indeed, it exists, it is likely to have been abandoned by its owner – almost certainly an owner who should not have had it in the first place, since it is one of a long list of exotic creatures which cannot be legally kept by private individuals outside the countries of their natural habitats.
Nile crocodiles are exceptionally dangerous creatures, but they are also nervous and will tend to flee if they see a human, rather than attack.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com