A distressed caller informed the Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare or RAWW about a crocodile near a residential area of Mumbai in India on 5 March. The crocodile was spotted stuck in a drain at a construction site in Mulund, next to a residential society, reports NDTV.

According to a Facebook post by Pawan Sharma, Founder & President of RAWW, the 4.4-feet-long crocodile was rescued after a 7-hour joint operation between 15 members of RAWW and the Mumbai Range of the Thane Forest Department.

‘The reptile was in a 5 feet pit connecting to a drain and there were possibilities of reptile ending up near the labour camp of the construction site or the work area which had potentials of leading into a Human Wildlife Conflict situation,’ writes Mr Sharma in his post.

The crocodile evaded capture attempts by refusing to move into the nets placed by the rescue team in the pit. For seven hours, the 15-member team worked to capture the reptile.

The rescue operation, which began at 6 pm, finally ended at 1:00am when the crocodile was safely removed from the pit after three failed attempts.

The crocodile was identified as a 5 to 6-years-old male marsh crocodile weighing 8.8 kgs. It was kept under observation by the forest department overnight before being released the next morning.