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UPDATED: Crocodile spotted lurking on Florida beach has been captured (w/video)

 
Screengrab of a video from WPBF in South Florida of a crocodile in the shallow waters just off of a beach in Hollywood, Florida.
Screengrab of a video from WPBF in South Florida of a crocodile in the shallow waters just off of a beach in Hollywood, Florida.
Published Nov. 20, 2017

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Authorities say they've captured a 6-foot (2-meter) crocodile that came ashore on a Florida beach.

News outlets report that wildlife officers caught the large reptile Monday afternoon on Hollywood Beach.

Hollywood spokeswoman Joann Hussey says it was first spotted near the pier in nearby Dania Beach as it drifted south in the Atlantic Ocean. Before the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded, lifeguards were keeping people a safe distance from the creature.

A video captured by WPBF Monday showed a large crocodile lurking in the shallow waters just off of the beach.

A crowd of onlookers can be seen observing the large reptile, which seemed content to relax in the surf.

According to previous Times reporting, Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist. Experts estimate about 2,000 crocodiles, North America's largest reptile and an endangered species, live in Florida, ten times as many as the 200 or so found here in the 1970s.

Watch the video, courtesy of WPBF, here: