Santo Domingo.- The nerves in the capital city barrio La Cienaga were frayed yesterday in the morning when a crocodile was seen on the Ozama’s riverbank, where the resident Rafael Nova affirms seeing it swimming upstream, “and I see that critter coming, and I say: but wait, it has the form of a crocodile, and as we get closer I saw it was pitch black.”

The newspaper Diario Libre reports that as word of the sighting spread throughout the barrio, its residents expressed their fear. "I wouldn’t go swimming again even if they paid me," said Kelvin, a minor who lives there.

Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry, after a joint investigation with the National Zoo and the Navy, confirmed the sighting of two crocodiles in the area of Sans Soucí port, less than two miles downriver from La Cienega. It said they are working to capture the animals.

There are conflicting reports as to the crocs’ origin, though it’s been confirmed that they belong to the native species American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus).