Crocodile-like Creature Spotted on Rhodes, Greece

A search is underway on the island of Rhodes in Greece for at least one crocodile-like creature that has been spotted by several witnesses on the banks of a river.

The mysterious animal is said to be hiding in the reeds of the Kremasti River near the west coast of the island.

Vice-Regional Governor of the Dodecanese, Christos Efstratiou, confirmed that the authorities have received complaints and revealed that two animals may be involved.

“I have received complaints about the appearance of an animal with a strange tail and a length of up to 1.5 meters (5 feet). From the eyewitnesses’ descriptions, I assume it’s probably a crocodile.”

Efstratiou suspects that an unscrupulous owner of the crocodile-like animal dumped it near the river. He ordered an extensive search of the area on Wednesday but until now there has been no sighting.

“Until its existence is established I advise everyone to be careful,” he added.

However, wildlife specialists are skeptical about the existence of a crocodile on Rhodes and instead, point to the possibility that eyewitnesses came across a monitor lizard.

Speaking to a local paper, the head of the Greek Society of Herpetologists noted that “the crocodile is not as fast as the eyewitnesses state.”

The expert added that it would be challenging to locate a monitor lizard.

“Sifis the Crocodile” became a sensation in Greece

This is the second time in recent memory that a crocodile may have been sighted in Greece. In 2014, Sifis, the crocodile had become an overnight sensation outwitting all attempts at “arrest” on the island of Crete.

Tourists and television crews from as far away as Japan had flocked to the Greek island in the hope of catching a glimpse of the fugitive, first spotted basking in the sun at an artificial lake.

Sifis died in March 2015, eight months since the first sighting.

“He was found in the water and must have been dead for at least 10 days,” said Petros Liberakis, a local herpetologist who had overseen the abortive operation to capture the crocodile. “This year’s heavy winter and the fact that we had so little sunshine were almost certainly the cause.”

Earlier this year another exotic animal captured headlines in Greece. The story of the rare white tiger cub discovered among the rubbish east of Athens made headlines around the world.

Hasija, as the female cub was called by its carers at the zoo, had 33 broken bones and had to be euthanized after spending weeks in the care of vets in a Greek zoo.

It is thought that the tiger cub was illegally acquired by a person who decided to get rid of it because of its disability.