A crocodile was captured in the drain on Castle Street about 20 yards from Victoria Street. It was about 8 ½ feet long, spanned about two and a half feet in width, and weighed about 250 pounds. The animal was taken out of the drain about 6:30 this morning by two men, who placed it in a nearby yard until police arrived.

The police came shortly after and took it away. No one was hurt in the process of capturing the crocodile, and the crocodile itself was not harmed.

Cornelio Day, a resident of the area, reported to Amandala that two men who were walking on Castle Street saw the animal in the drain. They quickly jumped onto it, tied its mouth, pulled it out of the drain and tugged it into a yard, where they held it until the police came.

Day said that the crocodile was about two and a half feet wide and the width of the drain was only twelve inches, so it was in much discomfort, and was being squeezed on all sides as it pulled itself along with great difficulty. He surmised that the crocodile originated in Haulover Creek, and somehow strayed along the waterway and entered the drain on Douglas Jones Street , but due to the heavy construction that was being carried out on Douglas Jones and North Front Streets, the crocodile was searching for another route by which to return to the Haulover Creek.

It followed the drain on Castle Street, he surmised, and it would have gone into the Victoria Street drain and perhaps to the creek, or it could have escaped into the area, and would have posed a great danger to children and animals.

Day reminds residents of the area to be cautious, for if a crocodile was able to stray into the city drains all the way from Haulover Creek, there are other animals that could be in the area.

Crocodiles are endangered in Belize and are protected by law.