Crocodile Tears

Ukrainian officials summoned a vet Friday to determine whether a crocodile, captured after six months on the run, was comatose or dead.

"The crocodile is showing no signs of life. We are not specialists and, to be honest, we don't know whether it's dead or alive," Nikolai Ranga of Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry said in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

"The vet is coming to see the crocodile tomorrow."

The crocodile, nicknamed Godzilla or Godzi, was captured alive this week after escaping from a traveling circus in May.

The reptile had been spotted several times lurking around industrial sites near the city of Mariupol, on the coast of the Sea of Azov. But it repeatedly eluded search teams.

It was finally found basking in a pool at a thermal power station, where the water was warmer than the nearby sea.

Ranga said the crocodile was then taken 100 km (60 miles) by car to Donetsk where it was freed into a fire service tank.

"We did what the specialists told us and poured in water at about 25 degrees (77 Fahrenheit)," he said. "We really do not know what to do next."

The crocodile's owner, quoted by the daily Segodnya, said he could only collect it Monday because of circus commitments.