Etawah (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 31 (IANS): A family in Jatia village in Etawah woke up shocked to find an eight-foot long crocodile in their house.

Harnam Singh, the owner of the house, said that the crocodile entered the house on Saturday night when they were sleeping.

"As soon as one of us saw the crocodile, everyone was woken up and we informed the police. The cops spoke to a local wildlife expert Dr Ashish Tripathi who said that we should quietly move out and lock the house from outside. This is what we did and everyone stayed up all night," he told reporters.

The rescue operation began on Sunday under the supervision of Dr Tripathi. It took the police and the wildlife experts considerable time to grab the crocodile in a trap and safely remove it from house. It was later handed over to the forest department.

"We do not know how it entered the house. When we heard the goats' bleating at night, we realised something was wrong and found the crocodile," said Harnam Singh.

He further said, "My mother started shouting and hearing her voice, my daughter opened the door of the room and rushed towards her. That is how the reptile entered the room."

Dr Tripathi, meanwhile, said the crocodile was a juvenile and not a fully-grown adult.

"We checked the crocodile and found that it was eight foot long. The reptile's age is between 1.5-2 years. The villagers were very scared but we decided against carrying out the rescue operation at night as this crocodile is very aggressive," he said.

He added that the crocodile crawled out from a canal flowing nearby in search of food. "It is a freshwater crocodile and will be released in its natural habitat," he added.