A killer crocodile with a taste for pet dogs has finally been caught in northern Australia.
The crocodile was pulled from a river bank in a remote part of the Northern Territory and had, according to police, eaten nine dogs in the last month.The 4.4-metre (14.5-feet) crocodile was trapped at Daly River community, about 225km (139 miles) south of Darwin, where it was terrorising residents and animals, the Northern Territory News said.
Community police officer Mark Casey told the newspaper: "Crocs are an ever-present danger but you don't see them.
"They can sit for days on end on the other side of the river and watch you go fishing off the same log or rock - that's how they hunt.
"Next thing you know, bang, the dog's gone."
As the saltwater crocodile drew ever closer to the settlement of 500 people, also snatching wallabies, a decision was made to catch it.
While the pet-eating beast was caught, Mr Casey said there were two more big crocs and a small one still on the loose in the area.
Saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven metres long and weigh more than one ton, are a common feature of Australia's tropical north and kill an average of two people a year.
Rangers set traps for the animals if they are believed to be getting away from their normal habitat and too close to homes.
Caught crocodiles are usually relocated to wildlife parks.
This story reminded me of the giant man-eating crocodile in 2011
Giant one-ton man-eating crocodile caught in Philippines
The 21-foot reptile was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans and livestock.A giant saltwater crocodile believed to be the biggest ever caught has been captured in a remote Philippine town.
The 21ft, 2,370lbs reptile may have eaten a farmer who went
missing in July, along with several water buffaloes in the southern town
of Bunawan, crocodile hunter Rollie Sumiller said.
A crocodile also bit off the head of a 12-year-old girl in Bunawan in 2009, according to the environment ministry.
Josefina de Leon, wildlife division chief at the environment
ministry, said that the beast was likely the biggest crocodile ever
captured.
“Based on existing records the largest that had been captured previously was 17.9ft long,” she said.
Mr Sumiller said he thought the male crocodile was more than 50 years old.
“This is the biggest animal that I’ve handled in 20 years of trapping,” he said.
The Philippine specimen would easily dwarf the largest captive saltwater crocodile on record, which the Guinness World Records website says is Cassius, an 18ft male.
The Australian “salty” has lived in Marineland Melanesia, an Australian nature park near Cairns for 24 years, it said.
Published press reports have also cited a 20.3ft adult male killed on the Fly River in Papua New Guinea in 1982 that was measured after it was skinned.
“The community was relieved,” Mr Sumiller said, but added: “We’re not really sure if this is the man-eater, because there have been other sightings of other crocodiles in the area.”
The team, employed by a government-run crocodile breeding farm, began laying bait using chicken, pork and dog meat on August 15.
But the reptile, which measured three feet across its back, simply bit off both the meat and the line it was skewered on.
An 0.31-inch metal cable finally proved beyond the power of its jaws, and the beast was subdued in a relatively fast 15 minutes at a creek late Saturday with the help of about 30 local men.
Bunawan Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde said the local government had decided against putting down the reptile and will instead build a nature park for it.
“It will be the biggest star of the park,” Mr Elorde told reporters.
Mr Sumiller said the plan was the best option available for the reptile in Bunawan, a marshy town of about 30,000 people on the upper reaches of the massive Agusan river basin of Mindanao island.
“He’s a problem crocodile that needs to be taken from the wild… [and] used for eco-tourism,” Mr Sumiller said.
He said the giant reptile needed a 1,614ft square temporary enclosure, nearly three times the normal size alloted for captive crocodiles.
Crocodylus porosus, or the estuarine crocodile, is the world’s largest reptile. It usually grows to 16-19ft in length and can live up to 100 years.
While not considered an endangered species globally, it is “critically endangered” in the Philippines, where it is hunted for its hide which is used in the fashion industry, de Leon said.
“There have been very few sightings of porosus in the wild in the Philippines in recent years,” she added.
In July, a smaller saltwater crocodile, measuring almost 14 feet was caught on the western Philippine island of Palawan after it killed a man.
“This is the biggest animal that I’ve handled in 20 years of trapping,” he said.
The Philippine specimen would easily dwarf the largest captive saltwater crocodile on record, which the Guinness World Records website says is Cassius, an 18ft male.
The Australian “salty” has lived in Marineland Melanesia, an Australian nature park near Cairns for 24 years, it said.
Published press reports have also cited a 20.3ft adult male killed on the Fly River in Papua New Guinea in 1982 that was measured after it was skinned.
“The community was relieved,” Mr Sumiller said, but added: “We’re not really sure if this is the man-eater, because there have been other sightings of other crocodiles in the area.”
The team, employed by a government-run crocodile breeding farm, began laying bait using chicken, pork and dog meat on August 15.
But the reptile, which measured three feet across its back, simply bit off both the meat and the line it was skewered on.
An 0.31-inch metal cable finally proved beyond the power of its jaws, and the beast was subdued in a relatively fast 15 minutes at a creek late Saturday with the help of about 30 local men.
Bunawan Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde said the local government had decided against putting down the reptile and will instead build a nature park for it.
“It will be the biggest star of the park,” Mr Elorde told reporters.
Mr Sumiller said the plan was the best option available for the reptile in Bunawan, a marshy town of about 30,000 people on the upper reaches of the massive Agusan river basin of Mindanao island.
“He’s a problem crocodile that needs to be taken from the wild… [and] used for eco-tourism,” Mr Sumiller said.
He said the giant reptile needed a 1,614ft square temporary enclosure, nearly three times the normal size alloted for captive crocodiles.
Crocodylus porosus, or the estuarine crocodile, is the world’s largest reptile. It usually grows to 16-19ft in length and can live up to 100 years.
While not considered an endangered species globally, it is “critically endangered” in the Philippines, where it is hunted for its hide which is used in the fashion industry, de Leon said.
“There have been very few sightings of porosus in the wild in the Philippines in recent years,” she added.
In July, a smaller saltwater crocodile, measuring almost 14 feet was caught on the western Philippine island of Palawan after it killed a man.
This is great!!!!
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