Environment officials have seen a decrease by up to 90 percent in complaints related to tourists feeding or approaching crocodiles. Local residents also are warming up to the signs.
Locals had hoped to remove the problem croc, but the estuary where it lives is part of a national park and crocodiles cannot be removed without scientific evidence of overpopulation. Instead, local leaders hope to educate the population about crocodile behavior.
On the first day of his surf trip on March 6 in Tamarindo, Montreal native Val Muscalu was waiting his turn for a wave when suddenly he was ripped off his board.
A Costa Rican crocodile expert is now recuperating in a hospital bed after being bitten last Wednesday by a crocodile during a relocation demonstration in the coffee town of Atenas, 44 kilometers northwest of the capital.
With one of the highest rates of crocodile attacks in the Americas, Costa Rica is now struggling as the giant reptiles expand their territory to popular tourist destinations.
A corpse missing an arm and showing signs of laceration on several parts of the body was discovered floating in the Tempisque River near Filadelfia, Guanacaste. The body apparently had been mutilated by a crocodile, according to a statement by the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ).
A human head washed ashore on the banks of the Tárcoles River, near Costa Rica's central Pacific coast, on Thursday morning and was recovered by agents from the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ).
The Costa Rican Red Cross is continuing their search this morning for the remains of 22-year-old Nicaraguan Omar de Jesús Jirón, who was devoured by crocodiles in the Tárcoles River near the Pacific beach town Jacó. The five-person team has so far been unsuccessful in their search, which began Tuesday night.