123 Burdwan: A male marsh crocodile was found dead in a water body at Burdwan Zoological Park, Ramnabagan Mini Zoo of Burdwan town in East Burdwan on Monday night.
The preliminary autopsy report indicated infighting between two male crocodiles as a possible reason behind the death, as vets found injury marks on its body. No internal injury was found, said sources.
Officials said the pond where this crocodile lived has three other marsh crocodiles, one male and two females. Another pond at the zoo has a male.
Former vet at Alipore Zoo, D N Banerjee, indicated the possibility of two males fighting over mating with a female. "In 2012, two male marsh crocodiles fought with each other at Alipore zoo over mating. One of them was injured during the process," he added.
Chanchal Dutt, assistant director at the animal resources development dept, said that at Jhargram Zoo in 2005, a similar incident occurred, though between a male and female marsh crocodile. "That was fatal, too. Both were rescued crocodiles and brought from two different locations. Hence, when they were kept together, they fought with each other. So, infighting is not unusual among marsh crocodiles, even if they are known to live in a community in the wild, when kept in captivity," he added.
It was learnt that the zoo keepers at Burdwan found abnormal movement by a crocodile on Tuesday morning at the pond. Upon checking, it was found to be dead. As a preventive measure, water from both ponds was drained and refilled, and later disinfectant was sprayed. Additionally, lime was added to the water.
Later, they informed senior officials who rushed to the spot.
DFO East Burdwan, Sanchita Sharma, told TOI that one male marsh crocodile was found dead out of five at the zoo. "We found multiple external injury marks on its body and some deep injury marks as well. On Tuesday, the post-mortem was conducted. Preliminary investigations reveal that infighting is the reason behind the death. But after getting the final report, we can confirm what actually happened," Sharma added.