What you need to know:
- Crocodile dies, 500 people attend funeral.
- Villagers considered the reptile a protector and were devastated at the animal's death.
- The reptile is almost 130 years old.
Dubai: A village in Chhattisgarh organised a funeral procession for their favourite crocodile, ‘Gangaram’ after the animal died in a pond.
Grief-stricken residents of Bawa Mohtara village in Bemetara district bade an emotional goodbye to the reptile, that they believed was a protector.
According to a report by Indian newspaper, The Hindu, the villagers set up a memorial for the crocodile on the pond’s bank, where it was buried. Paying tribute, none of the villagers cooked any food on that day.
Around 500 people participated in the funeral procession. They had affection for the reptile that they thought was ‘friendly’.
Villagers said that despite swimming close to those people who bathed in the pond, Gangaram never attacked them.
In the report, the village head, Mohan Sahu said that Gangaram had been living in the pond for more than 100 years. His grandfather had seen the crocodile in his childhood.
The animal is estimated to be about 130 years old and weighed around 250 kilos. When the reptile died, an autopsy was conducted, after which the body was handed over to the people of the village so that they could perform the final rites.
People took to social media to comment on the incident and most users commended the villagers for their kind gesture.
Tweep @abhi2007 posted: “This is my nation where people give an important place in their hearts [even] for a crocodile...”
@SaranSnehal tweeted: “Man and animal have equal rights to coexist.”
And @khan_dilwar89 posted: “Villagers mourn death of Gangaram, the crocodile, aged around 130 years, in a village in Chhattisgarh... more than 500 people attend his last rites... Humanity still exist.”
