A false alarm but a real intervention. A crocodile hunt was improvised Monday at the foot of the old Bergerac bridge, in the waters of the Dordogne, to try to catch the fearsome animal which turned out to be a fake.
At the end of the afternoon, the municipality posted a very serious message on its Facebook page, inviting its inhabitants “to avoid the sector” of the Quai Garrigat, in the city center, “closed to traffic following the discovery of a presumed “crocodile”. “A passer-by called us because he had seen something resembling this animal in the river”, explained the rescuers.
Two hour intervention
A dozen firefighters, including divers, went to the site shortly after 4 p.m., joined by the gendarmerie and the French Office for Biodiversity. Using poles and nets to approach the animal cautiously, the specialists of the nautical brigade finally emerged from the water, two hours later, a specimen perfectly imitating the morphology of the crocodilidae.
“Unfortunately, the animal is indeed deceased. A big congratulations to the SDIS 24, ”wrote the municipality once the alert was lifted. Before quickly specifying, with supporting photos, that the animal was indeed a “fake”.