Key West croc is quite a catch

There was a new crocodile in town, Key West.

Well, she's been seen around the Staples Avenue neighborhood in a pond off 10th Street for a while. Now, she's gone.

Crocodile trapper Chris Guinto and Matt Royer, who runs the Key West campus of the Florida Keys SPCA, caught the 70-pound, 6-foot-long female juvenile on Sunday.

"She's just a little girl," Royer said.

Guinto is the crocodile response agent and nuisance alligator trapper for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The trappers caught the croc, tagged her and will relocate her outside of Key West.

American crocodiles are a species in recovery, according to the FWC. The crocodile is still state listed as endangered, but its federal status has been recently downgraded to threatened.

Crocodiles generally live in saltwater, such as ponds, coves and creeks of mangrove swamps.

This story was originally published July 2, 2018 at 7:08 PM.