“Is there a crocodile in the river in Ladispoli”, after the alarm the carpet searches are triggered: joke or reality?

A Saturday night agitated a Ladispolion the Roman coast, where the voice of the presence of a Crocodrillo in the Sanguinara rivernear the Navarra bridge. To trigger the alert were some reports by citizens, immediately after a crowded concert. Carabinieri, police, urban police and civil protection intervened on the spot, but despite the long research, there is no trace of the reptile.

Reality or collective suggestion?

According to some testimonies, the animal sighted would be a contained caiman, between 50 and 70 centimeters. The mayor of Ladispoli, Alessandro Grando, invited to caution, remembering that the hypothesis of a bad taste joke is not excluded. And in the meantime, curiosity has pushed numerous residents to crowd the area, between fear and desire to discover the truth with its own eyes.

Kimba and the fox shark

It is not the first time that Ladispoli has the deal with animals out of context. In 2023, the escape of Leone Kimba, who escaped from a circus in the hope of getting back his freedom, had gone around the web and turned on the debate on the mistreatment of animals in circus contexts. Even earlier, in 2012, a fox shark was sighted off Torre Flavia. All real episodes, documented by images and videos.

Will it be a toy like that of Bolzano?

But here things are very different. The images circulating on the web, in fact, do not seem to portray a “true” crocodile. And then we recently filed the case of Bolzano, where a false crocodile alarm had proved to be a simple plastic toy.

In a context in which cities confront each other more and more often with exotic animals illegally detained, reports cannot be underestimated. But it is equally important not to be overwhelmed by collective psychosis, risking to feed an atmosphere of alarm without foundation.