‘Crocodile’ terrorising German town turns out to be a beaver

Two visitors to the Bavarian city’s local lake, Klauensee, claimed to have spotted a crocodile in the water. After deploying dozens of searchers, including a dramatic night-time boat operation with more than 70 police, fire fighters and aid workers, officials in the town now believe they have spotted the missing reptile. But Klausi the crocodile, it turns out, is actually just a beaver.

The city of Schwandorf has no wikipedia entry but is a small German town near the Czech border. What lake housed the criminal? The article doesn’t say but since the public named the mythical croc ‘klausi’ I’m assuming the sighting was in Klausensee. This means the lake with the lurking crocodile is about 2000 feet across and just under a mile long. 70 officers to patrol means one officer every 200 feet on the perimeter. And HOW in god’s name would a crocodile survive in Bavaria exactly? They are cold blooded you know, and the average winter temperature hovers right around freezing. I suppose its possible someone just released his pet croc in the lake and its managing fine in the summer heat, but 70 police? Here’s a handy comparison sheet for next time, because I’m sure even in Schwandorf there are more important things to do, and btw thanks for the morning ROTFLOL.

And because nothing in life is simple, here’s a the flipside of the headline for today. Sigh, something like ‘Yes, Klausi there is a Virginia?’