Kendrapada: A six-foot-two-inch-long female saltwater crocodile was found dead in Luna river near Gopinathpur village on Sunday, marking the fourth recorded crocodile death in 19 days in Bhitarkanika National Park and its vicinity in Kendrapada district.The discovery has brought illegal fishing and monitoring systems under heavy scrutiny.“Locals spotted the carcass on Sunday and alerted forest officials, who visited the spot and collected it for further investigation,” said the forest range officer, Kendrapada, Sachidananda Subudhi.“This is the fourth death of crocodiles in 19 days as the carcass of a seven-foot-long female saltwater crocodile was washed up on Oct 24 at Brahmani river near Bengamari village within Dangamal forest range of Bhitarkanika National Park. On Oct 22, forest officials retrieved a 3-foot-seven-inch-long female crocodile in Hansua river near Badakota village. Similarly, the body of a 14-foot-long male crocodile aged around 20 years was found on Oct 6 in Brahmani river near Nagada village.“This is also the 21st incident of unnatural death of crocodiles in six years and 43rd death of crocodile around the park in 14 years, which has baffled forest officials and environmentalists.“The unnatural death of four crocodiles in a short span of time is a deeply disturbing incident. We are losing potential adult males and females. If it continues, gradually we will lose all crocodiles. What we have achieved within the last 50 years, again it will be disastrous. Our people and the Forest Department should work wholeheartedly to save the estuarine crocodile and the mangrove forest, the habitats of the reptiles,” said noted herpetologist and the former wildlife researcher of Odisha Forest Department, Sudhakar Kar.74-year-old Kar has been doing crocodile conservation work tirelessly for more than 50 years in Odisha even after his retirement 14 years back. He first started saltwater crocodile breeding and rearing work in 1975 along with noted Australian herpetologist H R Bustard in Bhitarkanika National Park, known as India’s second-largest mangrove after Sundarbans.The number of saltwater crocodiles in the Bhitarkanika area was estimated to be 95, including 34 adults in 1975. The saltwater crocodile conservation programme is the most successful one due to our efforts. The water bodies in Bhitarkanika are now the home for more than 1,800 saltwater crocodiles. The deaths of many crocodiles have cast a shadow over the Forest Department’s reptile conservation work, said Kar.There is inadequate protection across the national park and its nearby water bodies; as a result, rampant illegal fishing is going on though fishing is banned in the water bodies of the park. But some fishermen illegally fish in the rivers and creeks. Illegal fishing is taking the lives of crocodiles in Bhitarkanika as crocodiles die from entanglement in illegal fishing nets, leading to asphyxiation or drowning when they cannot surface, said Hemant Rout, an environmentalist of Kendrapada.When contacted, the Divisional Forest Officer of Bhitarkanika, Varadaraj Gaonkar, said, “Four crocodiles died within and outside of the park areas this month. Veterinary doctors conducted an autopsy on the carcasses. After getting the post-mortem report, we will know the exact cause behind the death of crocodiles.”