Rare freshwater croc caught near Hardinge Bridge

A crocodile was caught in a fisherman's net near the Hardinge Bridge on the Padma in Kushtia's Bheramara upazila on Friday night.

Forest department officials identified it as a freshwater crocodile and released it back into the river that same night, GM Md Kabir, officer of Kushtia Forest Department confirmed.

He said, "The crocodile was caught in the net of fisherman Abul Kalam Azad. It was 2.5 feet wide and six feet long. It was brown in colour and weighed about 35kg."

He added that freshwater crocodiles are quite visible in the Indian part of the Padma.

"It might have entered when the Farakka Dam's gates were opened most recently during the monsoon."

Such crocodiles, according to him, had never been spotted in the Bangladesh part of the Padma before.

After hearing about a freshwater crocodile being caught, hundreds of locals flocked to the spot for the rare sight.