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Falling Tungabhadra Water Levels Brought Mugger Crocodiles Onto Riverbanks in Kurnool

Mugger crocodile resting beside water in Gir Forest National Park, India
Conservation · Human–wildlife conflict

Falling water levels in the Tungabhadra River brought mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) onto exposed riverbanks in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, India, in early September 2026. Kurnool District Forest Officer P. Shyamala linked the increased appearances on the banks to poor rainfall and the receding river.

Near Naguladinne in Nandavaram mandal, villagers dragged a mugger crocodile from the shallow river, beat it with sticks and tied it with a rope. The Forest Department warned residents not to chase, catch or harm crocodiles and asked them to keep their distance and contact forest officials instead.

A separate mugger crocodile stranded in a shallow section of the river was rescued by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department’s HANUMAN wildlife-response team. After a veterinary examination, it was released into a section of the river with sufficient water flow. The two incidents show how unusually low water levels brought crocodiles and people into closer contact along the Tungabhadra.

Sources and image credit

  1. The Hindu. (2026, September 4). Villagers drag, beat crocodile driven ashore by sinking Tungabhadra in Andhra’s Kurnool.Main contemporaneous report. Kurnool District Forest Officer P. Shyamala linked crocodiles appearing on the riverbanks to poor rainfall and falling Tungabhadra water levels, described villagers dragging and beating one mugger crocodile, and asked residents to contact forest officials rather than chase, catch or harm the animals. The report also documents the HANUMAN team rescue and release of another stranded mugger crocodile.

Image: Bernard Gagnon — wild mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) in Gir Forest National Park, India, photographed 25 November 2013; representative species image, not the crocodile from the September 2026 Tungabhadra incident. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

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Human–wildlife conflict

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