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People in Liverpool were left baffled after a huge crocodile was reportedly found close to a hospital.

One woman, who spotted the reptile as she was leaving work on Wednesday evening, believed the animal was a branch and then a stuffed toy before realising that a dead, scaled creature was actually blocking her path.

Pictures and video circulating on social media show the animal, believed to be a type of croc, has been spotted in the Lower Lane area of Fazakerley, close to the hospital and the Walton Centre.

Five theories explain how huge crocodile ended up in Merseyside

Throughout the day the crocodile was again photographed in further locations around the area before being captured cut in half on the pavement.

An ECHO reader, who did not want to be named, forwarded a number of pictures and said that when she told people what she saw, they didn't believe her.

She said: "I was walking with my boyfriend on Lower Lane, about to turn onto Longmoor Lane, and didn't really take any notice of it.

"I thought it was maybe a branch or something but as we got closer he said 'that's a crocodile' but I told him it couldn't be.

"We got closer and I could see all the features and colour and scales so assumed it was maybe a teddy but we got right up to it and you could see its bones and teeth."

UPDATE: The crocodile mystery has been solved - read the latest here

By the time the woman had seen the crocodile, it had become cut in two, but after posting about it on social media others told her they had seen it fully intact earlier in the day.

She added: "People have been commenting saying they saw it on the road and then on the grass verge so I don't know whether it has been run over or someone has cut it in half but you can see its spine sticking out."

It is not yet know how the croc became to be on the footpath in North Liverpool but people on social media have suggested a number of ways it could have ended up there.

The woman said: "Some people think that maybe someone kept it as a pet and it got too big so they've let it out and it has died.

"Or maybe it has escaped from somewhere."

On a Facebook post people could not get over the find.

A woman said: "Oh my god, what on earth. I need to know how on earth a crocodile has ended up chopped in half."

Another added: "This is so so weird. Where’s that come from and what’s snapped it in half."