CHENNAI, June 23: The crocodile which entered the Buckingham canal in the city, succumbed to injuries inflicted by panicked hut-dwellers on the banks of the waterway. Identified as a salt-water reptile, the five-foot long animal could have been about five years old, and is among the endangered species. Hut-dwellers, afraid that the reptile posed a threat to their safety, attacked it with sticks and stones whenever it surfaced. Mita Banerjee, Wildlife Warden, Chennai, who led a team which rescued the crocodile, said it died even before it could be released in the Guindy Children's Park.

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