Man-eating Nile crocodile found in Florida Everglades
A deadly Nile crocodile has been found alive in the Everglades National Park in Florida.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino says they believe the young five-and-a-half foot croc might have escaped from a facility in the Miami-Dade county, reports Fox News.
The conservation commission are conducting DNA test to confirm this theory.
The crocodile was taken to the Everglades Alligator farm in Homestead, where it will remain until officials decide on its fate.
Nile crocodiles, native to Africa, can grow up to 20ft, and are a lot larger and deadlier than Florida's crocodiles and alligators.
The Nile crocodile is in fact the second largest in the world, behind the saltwater crocodile found in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
It is third most dangerous species in Africa, after the lion and hippo, and is responsible for up to 745 attacks on people a year, many of them fatal.
According to the Sun Sentinel, a criminal investigation has been launched after the find, as allowing an exotic species to escape into the wild is a second-degree misdemeanour, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and jail time of up to six months.
According to the Miami Herald, it is thought officials have been searching for the crocodile for two years.
It was first spotted in April 2012 by a botanist. Then, about a week ago, volunteers with the Swamp Apes, a team that searches for invasive Burmese pythons, spotted the croc and notified park officials.
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