Kerala: World's first ever crocodile park dedicated to Australian wildlife enthusiast Steve Irwin (who died a tragic death in a stingray attack last year) is coming up soon in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala.
Spread out over one hectare of land, the park will have initially be home to 45 'mugger' crocodiles and a rare variety of reptiles spotted and rescued from a beach last year.
"Since the park has been conceived as a memorial to Steve Irwin, the entrance will have a concrete plaque featuring the Australian conservationist holding a crocodile in his hand," said one wildlife official.
The Steve Irwin park would also have an open enclosure for the crocodiles to live in natural conditions. Designed by the Zoo Authority of India, the park would have green gardens and a gravelled pathway.
Mugger is the commonly found variety of crocodile in Kerala, which lives and breeds in marshy land. The fast dwindling estuarine, bigger than mugger, was thought to have completely disappeared in Kerala before one of its kin was found on a beach near Varkala last year.
Stress on coastal environs and large scale destruction of mangroves have proved fatal to the survival of the estuarine crocodiles. The idea of creating a memorial for Steve Irwin was mooted by Kerala Forest Minister Benoy Viswam, immediately after the death of the Australian during a filming session at Queensland last year.
Viswam had then said that the memorial was conceived as a tribute to Irwin who left an indelible mark in the minds of millions, especially children, through his televised programme sending the message of conservation around the world.
All those crocodiles to be shifted to the new park are now living in the Neyyar dam reservoir. There had been instances of some overgrown crocodile breaking out of the enclosed area into the open reservoir and posing threat to people living on the banks.
With PTI inputs
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