Police rush to reports of crocodile in river - but everything isn't as it seems

11 February 2024 , 09:32

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Officers rushed to a stream after receiving reports of a crocodile (Image: Jam Press/Ipswich Police)

Police were left in stitches after rushing to reports of a crocodile on the loose in a British town - only to find a plastic children's toy on arrival.

Armed with all their specialist gear, including a catch pole to tackle the scaly visitor, the officers rushed to a stream where the animal was reportedly spotted. Outside of zoos, there are no natural crocodiles in Europe because the climate here is too cold for them.

The UK's temperature and ecosystems are generally not suitable to the natural habitat crocodiles need to survive, grow, and reproduce. They instead require warm, tropical climates to survive. The toy found by officers was believed to have been spotted by a walker who mistook it for a ferocious predator.

They were left in hysterics when they discovered that the ‘crocodile’ was in fact a harmless 18-inch plastic children’s toy that someone had dumped at the edge of the stream, in woodland in Foxhall, near Ipswich. Its position in the stream suggests it could have been left by a prankster attempting to make it look like the real thing. The relieved officers were able to find humour in the bizarre incident, with one cop posing with the toy in a hilarious snap.

The toy found by officers was believed to have been spotted by a walker who mistook it for a ferocious predator (Jam Press/Ipswich Police)

A spokesperson for Ipswich Police took to X, formerly Twitter, writing: “Unusual incident came in yesterday am - report of a baby crocodile in the Foxhall area,” a spokesperson for Ipswich Police said. "Officers made a snappy arrival expecting some crocodile wrestling but it turned out to be a false alarm this time. Plastic Croc has now been removed from the stream.”

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Social media users were quick to comment on the incident, and congratulate the policemen. Twitter user Rab posted: “Wow, I thought for a minute there you’d bitten off more than you could chew!”

Another user added: “What a brave officer. A commendation must surely be on the cards now", while one said: “Nice one. Ready for anything!” Crocodiles are normally native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia, along with Australia and the Americas. They live in a range of wetlands and some salt water regions, but need warm climates to survive because they are cold-blooded.

Parts of North Africa are home to the Nile crocodile, while in Asia, countries like India and Bangladesh boast a significant crocodile population, with various species, including the mugger crocodile and the saltwater crocodile.

Zahra Khaliq