BHUBANESWAR: Forest officials with the help of fishermen rescued a gharial whose snout was entangled in a fishing net for the second time, near Madhusudan bridge in Cuttack on Monday.The satellite transmitter-tagged gharial was released in Mahanadi on December 2 last year. In the third week of the same month, its snout got stuck in a fishing net and it was rescued by a team of experts and fishermen in the river near Narasinghpur in Athagarh.
However, a week later, the reptile was again found entangled in a net. Experts of Nandankanan Zoo, implementing the gharial conservation programme in the river, could not get hold of the gharial to remove the net. After two unsuccessful attempts, the team finally managed to catch it with the help of fishermen and removed the net from its mouth on Monday.
Zoo deputy director Dr Sanjeet Kumar said their team had a tough time in rescuing the fish-eating crocodile as it needed to be caught without being tranquillised. Kumar said because of their long snouts, gharials are prone to getting entangled in fishing nets due to which they get trapped and die. “Apart from sensitising fishermen, our team is constantly monitoring the movement of gharials released in the river with radio and satellite transmitters,” he added.