Where's the Xertigny crocodile?

Well it's certainly not in the village pond. That has been drained and the only beast of any notable variety found was a 94-centimetre pike.

You might remember the story (here) from last week; a crocodile on the loose in the village of Xertigny in eastern France.

Its two-hectare large pond has been the site of more-than-usual activity for the past week or so, ever since several local people stepped forward to say that they had seen a croc - reported to be about 1.5 metres in length.

The crocodile was apparently first spotted the weekend before last by an elderly man, who perhaps understandably kept quiet about it until several others stepped forward to say they too had seen it.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the croc was simply an hallucination or a figment of the imagination of the local folk.

But the authorities began to take the whole story a lot more seriously last week when those previous sightings were corroborated by the area's best and bravest in the form of a couple of fireman and a policeman.

Indeed on Wednesday last week one of the fireman apparently managed to get within a couple of metres of the beast before it slipped into the water and disappeared.

That led to local officials to call in the experts, set a trap for the reptile in the pond and basically keep their fingers crossed.

But the crocodile refused to cooperate, declining the tasty morsels positioned inside a cage for over a week and so the mayor, Véronique Marcot, decided to have the pond drained.

"We started emptying the pond at five o'clock in the morning (on Thursday), taking all the necessary precautions," said Marcot.

"But there was no crocodile, just a large pike," she added.

"I have to admit I'm a little disappointed, but at the same time somewhat relieved because the pond now has the all clear."

So one large pike (among others) plus around 200 kilogrammes of other assorted pond life, including carp, perch and crayfish but most significantly of course...no crocodile.

The pond will remain in its now current dry state for the next three months, "just in case" the illusive reptile should decide to return.

And the latest theory in the croc who seemingly enjoys a rather protracted game of hide-and-seek is that it has has done a runner, crossing a nearby forest and headed for another pond.