A dog walker couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what he thought was a crocodile's head floating down the River Thames in London this morning (10.10.17).
Crocodile found in River Thames?
Chris Davies, 46, was left stunned when he saw the potentially deadly creature swimming near Chelsea Harbour, but let out a huge sigh of relief when the emergency services turned up and discovered the ''beast'' was actually a realistic pond ornament.
Speaking to the MailOnline, harbour master Colin Bullock, who was called in to deal with the mystery sighting, said: ''It was just a pond ornament. It was only a plastic item and I fished it out with a net. No need to panic.''
The RSPCA said prior to the harbour master identifying the mystery object: ''We haven't received any calls to our emergency hotline about a crocodile in the River Thames, however we have seen a video circulating on social media.
''It would be very unusual for a crocodile to be living in the River Thames and it's difficult to tell from the video if it's real or not. We would encourage anyone who spots the crocodile to contact the police in the first instance.
''Unfortunely this sort of thing is not completely unheard of. We had a case this year where a caiman was found dumped in a reservoir in Bristol.
''It's not illegal to own crocodiles as pets in the UK under licence, so there's a chance this one in the Thames was abandoned by its owner. This is a very strange case and we of course would discourage owners from abandoning pet crocodiles in this way.''