( dpa ) - A 40-kilogramme cayman was seized Wednesday on a street in the town of Cariacica, in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, news website G1 reported.
The animal got out of an urban lake and got lost on the street, the report said. The cayman was bound and gagged by residents, who handed it over to Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) officials in Espirito Santo.
One of the people involved in the seizure of the animal, businessman Joao Batista Barbosa dos Santos, said many residents were surprised when they learned a cayman lived in a lake near their homes.
"Many could not believe it. Nobody had ever seen it outside the lake before," he said.
Ibama biologist Jacques Passamani said the cayman is an adult animal, 1.70 metres long and weighing 40 kilogrammes.
"We think it came out because of the rain," the expert said.
Passamani said Ibama plans to return it to natural life, although the institute will not disclose where in order not to attract hunters.