SAN PEDRO, Ambergris Caye, Wed. June 2, 2021– Reports are circulating in San Pedro Town that a man in San Pedro was hauled underwater by an aggressive crocodile on Wednesday, June 2. It is alleged that the man was near the lagoon side of the island in the San Pedrito area of San Pedro when a crocodile pounced onto him and pulled him underwater.

A rescue team consisting of police officers, members of the Rickilee Response and Rescue (Triple R Response) team, reps from the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary (ACES), officers of the Belize Coast Guard and interested volunteers was formed, and they swiftly searched the area. When this yielded no results, the search team expanded the search radius to the mangrove area in the lagoon. These efforts have all been futile so far.

A volunteer from ACES noted that this behavior toward humans is not typical of the crocodile species, especially the species of crocodile inhabiting Belize. Humans are not generally seen as a food source for crocodiles. It is believed that when humans feed crocodiles, however, the crocodiles are conditioned to associate humans with food. Crocodiles’ main prey are primarily birds, raccoons or other small mammals that frequent swampy areas.

ACES pledges to assess the situation and to try to find the crocodile in question. They further urge the public to not become fearful due to this recent incident. This behaviour, as stated before, is not common among crocodiles.