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Northern Territory, April 2006After cyclone Monica swept across the Northern Territory in April 2006 a few trees were down so Fred Buckland went to work at Corroboree Park near Darwin to remove a tree that was leaning against the enclosure of a crocodile named Brutus. Much to his surprise the 4.5 metre crocodile emerged from his pond and at high speed ran towards him and grabbed the chainsaw out of his hands! It was not clear if the croc had actually tried to attack Fred or was just annoyed with the noise but after Fred escaped the croc kept chewing on the chainsaw for over an hour until it was well and truly rooted. September 2005, Coburg Peninsula, Northern TerritoryRussell Butel, 55,a very experienced diver, was collecting
fish and coral for his aquarium business at Washon Head on the Coburg
Peninsula in the Northern Territory in September 2005. Doubtful Bay, Kimberley Coast, 3 October 200510-year-old girl Chantal Burnup from Busselton, W.A. was on holidays in the north of Western Australia and went for a swim early afternoon with her father Richard and brother Simon. They were in a freshwater pool when suddenly Chantal was pulled under water by a three metre crocodile. Her father dragged her back to shore with the crocodile still attached around her torso while her 14 year old brother punched the crocodile in the head which convinced it to let go. The attack caused serious injuries to her arms and upper body. Because of the remoteness of the area she was not flown to a hospital but a helicopter airlifted her to the nearest cattle station, to be treated by a doctor flow in from elsewhere. Groote Eylandt, 24 September 200537 year old Canadian mine superintendent Russell Harris working at the Gemco mine in Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory, went snorkeling on a Saturday afternoon with a friend at Picnic Beach, a popular spot just south of Umbakumba. During the snorkeling they each went their own way but when his friend could not find him hours later the alarm was raised. Police and locals searched the area with a plane and boats without much success. Sunday morning the search was continued and they soon found the man's body, more than a kilometre from where he was last seen. Injuries to his body indicated he had been mauled by a crocodile, soon after a four metre long saltwater crocodile was spotted in the area that was the most likely suspect. Lakefield, near Cooktown,Qld, 16 August 200560 year old Barry Jefferies and his missus Glenda
were on a camping holiday in Lakefield National Park and decided
to go and do some fishing in their canoe in Midway Waterhole on
the Normanby River. Around dusk Barry hooked a fish but as he dragged
it in a 400kg croc tried to get it. Barry saw the croc approach
and tried to fend it off with his paddle but the monster lunged
at him, clamped its massive jaws around his arm and dragged him
into the water. If you're interested in crocodile attacks check the daily local Darwin newpaper the Northern Territory News, there's hardly ever more than a few days without some sort of crocodile event on the frontpage.
Crocodiles have perfected their hunting techniques
for around 200 million years and can swim under water at 30 km/h
withhout a ripple on the surface and then burst out and on a short
distance can outrun a horse. If a prey puts up too much resistance
they will do the "death roll" to get it off its feet.
They even jump out of the water to catch low flying birds and, as
you can see on the "jumping crocodile tours" in the Northern
Territory raise themselves out of the water and "stand"
on their tail for a few seconds to grab a piece of meat.
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A group of tourists watching a crocodile feeding show at the Johnstone RIver Crocodile Farm got more than they bargained for when the 4.1 metre croc grabbed its handler by the arm, dragged him into the pond and did the infamous death roll, resulting in the death of the man who had been working at the farm several years.
35 year old man Ron Bakx was swimming at night at Yorkeys Beach in the north of Cairns when he was attacked by a crocodile that gave him some deep puncture wounds to the head, back and shoulder. He did not actually see the croc but was extremely lucky to survive the attack. He admitted later that a midnight swim was not a smart idea and it was his own fault for invading the croc's territory.
Drew Ramsden, 18, was enjoying a few drinks with friends when he went to the edge of the Barron River at about 10.30pm to wash his face and had his head underwater while his mates, who saw the 2.5 metre reptile approaching, were yelling out CROC!, CROC! They also threw rocks and beercans in an attempt to make the croc stop. As Drew lifted his head out the water he heard CROC! and at the same instant felt the whack of the croc's jaws hitting his head. The croc was unable to get a good grip on his head and he managed to scramble up the riverbank, with only some punctures and teethmarks on his head and chin that were fixed with a few stitches. The river where this happened is separated by only 1 km of rapids from Lake Placid, a very popular swimming spot for the Cairns locals but the place was deserted after this event.
A 15 year old Aboriginal girl at a beer party close to the Cairns city centre went for a swim in Chinaman Creek where she was mauled by a 3metre crocodile that grabbed her leg and dragged her around for several minutes. She managed to get hold of an overhead mangrove branch and screamed for help, two young men came to the rescue and in a tug of war managed to get her out of the crocodile's jaws.
From Cairns Post, 21 January, 1893;
On Tuesday evening last a terrible fate befell James Mason, aged 10 years. The father, Mr J E Mason of Stratford and his two bright healthy sons were bathing in the Barron River. They were in about 2 feet six of water. The sandy muddy spot was their favourite spot. They thought they were safe from crocs in the shallow water.
Suddenly came a splash. The mud was stirred up and the water lashed. The father's surprise turned to horror. He could not see his eldest boy, Jimmy. He threw the other child on the bank and dived where he had seen the splash. He found the boy and grasped his legs. Something more powerful was pulling the boy away. Then the father realised that a croc had taken his boy from his very side.
A few minutes later the croc rose to breathe in the middle of the river. In those fearful jaws was one leg of the unfortunate child.
Marine biologist Tony Avril was scuba diving on some reefs near
Cape Flattery in north Queensland when he suddenly felt something
grab hold of his foot and tug it. At first he thought it may have
been a groper but when the creature pushed forwards he could see
a large crocodile head through the murky water.
When they broke the surface during the struggle Tony called out
to his wife Avril to start the engine of the boat in the hope that
the noise would scare the crocodile. As the crocodile moved around
and tried to get a better grip on Tony's diving flipper and foot,
he started bashing the crocodile's head with a metal object and
tried to gauge his eyes, but the big monster drew his eyes deep
inside his sockets. Then the croc tried its favorite trick; the
deathroll, but as a biologist Tony recognized this tactic and just
grabbed on to the crocodile's body and kept rolling with him. When
the croc started swimming away Tony, who had no intention of going
too far from his boat, managed to get hold of the crocodile's legs,
and got them in a firm grip. By now the crocodile decided that this
dinner was just too much hard work and he let go of Tony's foot
and swam off. Avril had been following the trail of bubbles and
had manouevred the boat right above him so he managed to get on
board pretty quick, one other diver that was with them and had missed
the whole scenario was also quickly retrieved. Although the thick
rubber of the flipper had protected Tony's foot to some extent from
the croc's teeth the sheer pressure of the croc's jaws had crushed
a lot of small bones in his foot, and after being released from
hospital a week later it took nearly another year for the foot to
fully recover.
Good Friday turned out to be not such a Good Friday for 37 year
old Pom Jason Lewis. He was on a round the world trip, not the usual
tourist way but all by human powered transport. He had already capsized
in the Atlantic when he was hit by a whale, broken both legs in
the US when he got run over by a car, but high up Cape York peninsula
paddling from Lizard Island to the mainland he also came under attack
of a large crcodile.
The attack happened late afternoon, when he approached the sand
bank where he had planned to rest for the night. Two large crocs
slipped of the bank and into the water when they spotted him, and
started moving around. After a while one suddenly started following
him, and gained rapidly.
Jason paddled as fast as he could with the croc only metres behind
him when he hit the beach. He ran up the beach but the croc kept
hanging around his kayak, which was a bit inconvenient for Jason
as all his gear, including his satellite phone, were in there. Using
his paddle he tried to scare the croc off but this only resulted
in a destroyed paddle. He then spent a night camping on the beach
with the croc patrolling and in the morning he managed to get his
satellite phone and called in a sea plane to evacuate him. At least
he survived with a good story to tell, which not everone on this
page can say.
In April 2004 11 year old girl Hannah Thompson went for a swim near the top of Cape York Peninsula at Margaret Bay when she was attacked by a 3.3 metre long crocodile. The animal grabbed her by the arm but luckily a small boat with long time crocodile hunter Ray Turner was next to them and, like a real life Crocodile Dundee, the 57 year old man dived on to the back of the crocodile and gouged the reptile in its left eye. This prompted the croc to let go of the girl but he kept circling the boat after the attack. Ray then delivered the girl and the rest of the group to Haggerstone Island from where she was airlifted to Thursday Island Hospital with deep puncture wounds in her lower arm. Hannah lost her watch in the attack but was recovering well in hospital. Ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke rang the island to advise them to not tell the story for free but to negotiate a lucrative deal with the highest bidder.
American schoolboy John Conway was on holidays in Australia and went camping in the remote wilderness of the Cape York Peninsula where 30% of Australia’s salt water crocodiles are found. One of the local wildlife rangers offered to take the group out in a boat at night to observe crocodiles close-up. Intending to give them a really good look, the ranger jumped out of the boat and caught the croc with his bare hands. He struggled for a bit, then got a good grip and holding it tightly, brought it ashore. Then the ranger offered John to hold the croc, John accepted but his grip on the animal slipped and it turned and attacked him. John remembers it took 5 minutes to get the croc off of him with the ranger yelling at him to be careful, because the crocodile’s teeth might be damaged!
Two men in an aluminium fishing boat (tinnie) were several kilometres off shore fishing on the reef when suddenly a large 5 metre crocodile started attacking their boat and managed to punch a few good holes into the metal. The men started their boat and motored back to shore, having to bail water for most the way that was pouring in through the holes that the croc punched.
One December night in 1985 several people, including Beryl Wruck, 40, were at a party on the banks of Stewart Creek, a tributary to the Daintree river, north of Cairns, Queensland. They were all locals and well aware of the number and size of local crocodiles but still decided to wade into the water a bit to cool down in the tropical night, perhaps not aware that the net that normally protects the site had been taken away for repairs. When interviewed later the men said there was a huge splash and the woman was gone. Relatives, police and local SES searched the river for over a week without success. Also some rednecks cruised up and down the river shooting any croc in sight over the next few weeks. While they might have made some impact then there is now certainly no shortage of crocs in this river as you can see on one of the many crocodile spotting trips that now operate on this river. The crocodile, locally known as Kodak, was later captured.
On 9 February 2009 tragedy struck again on the Daintree river, when five year old Jeremy Doble was taken in shallow water outside his riverside home. Rangers searched the river for days and trapped several crocs until they found the boy's remains in a 4.3 metre croc. The boy's parents who own the Daintree River Train that takes tourists on croc spotting tours, requested that the animal would not be killed but taken to a crocodile farm or zoo.
Tour boat Solar Whisper was happily doing its usual cruise on the Daintree River and came across the spectacle of two fighting crocs, locally known as Fat Albert and Scarface. However, they got more excitement than planned when Fat Albert diverted his attention from Scarface and turned on the boat. The huge five metre crocodile lunged nearly a metre out of the water and bit the railing of the small tour boat, passengers were able to get out of the way but his teeth left some bite marks in the metal of the boat.
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Solar Whisper owner David White said the unprecedented attack was
a bit frightening, but after passengers had calmed down a bit they
had told him it had been "the highlight of their holiday".
The attack was out of character for a crocodile and no boats have
been bitten again since then.
Only days before a tourist had managed to fall overboard from another
boat in the same area but was quickly plucked from the river before
any croc could choose him for dinner.....
Crocodile egg harvesting is a dangerous profession, and professional crocodile egg harvester Joe Wilson found this too in February 2004 when he and a colleague were harvesting eggs on the Daly River. He was near a crocodile nest when suddenly a crocodile attacked him, somehow he managed to survive the attack and was flown by helicopter to Royal Darwin Hospital where he spent three days for treatment to wounds on his abdomen. Joe had been attacked by crocodiles before, a couple of years before he was taken to hospital in a mate's car when he had been bitten on his arm by a croc in Arnhem Land.
The small community living on the banks of the Daly River in the Northern Territory is used to living with crocodiles as the river is full of them but when in March 2004 a four metre saltie that had been hanging out close to some of the houses took a dog from near a group of playing children it got a bit too close for comfort and Parks and Wildlife ranger Tom Nichols was called in and shot the crocodile.
Although everyone knows the Daly River is full of
large crocodiles there are still people in the local community there
that continue to swim across the river, and so in April 2009 a 20
year old man was disappeared while swimming with his brother across
the crocodile infested river around two o'clock in the night while
the man's wife was watching from the riverbank.
This attack had the classic standard ingredients of alcohol and
swimming after dark. The remains of the man were found a kilometre
upstream from where he was attacked and police destroyed a 4.3m
croc believed to be responsible for the attack.
36 Year old Geoff Bolitho, from Jabiru, NT, was fishing with two mates on the East Alligator River when suddenly and totally unexpected a 4m saltwater crocodile leaped into his boat and bit him on the head. He was not seriously injured but still they decided to lift anchor and gt out of there and reported the incident to rangers the next day who sent out a hunting party and shot the crcocodile. This was quite an unusual attack as crocodiles do not normally attack boats or people in boats. Geoff was just lucky the croc did not get a good grip on his head and he lived to tell the tale.
On sunday 22 december 2003 three men who had spent the day riding their quad-bikes went to the Finniss River in the Northern Territory to cool down a bit. One of them, Brett Mann, 22, was carried down the river by the flowing water, the others swam to his aide but then the 4 metre salt water crocodile attacked and killed Brett, his two mates Shaun Blowers and Ashley McGough, both 19, then spent 22 hours up a tree with the crocodile circling around until they were winched to safety by a police helicopter the following day.
Jim Morris from Rockhampton was riding his horse in the Northern Territory and took it down to the river for a drink. He stood next to the horse on the river bank but as he put his foot in the water the horse suddenly bolted and pulled him away from the river, at the same time Jim felt something hit his leg, which turned out to be a crocodile having an unsuccesful snap.
The Gulf of Carpenteria is sparsly populated and prime croc country. One fisherman was very lucky to survive after standing on a crocodile while fishing in a mangrove swamp. After he stepped on the crocodile's tail, he panicked, dropped his net and sprinted off but the two metre long crocodile ran after him and bit into his ankle. He managed to free himself and get to the safety of his fishing boat.
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Ms Plumwood, an academic from Sydney, was attacked by a crocodile while canoeing on the East Alligator River in Kakadu National Park in 1985. She survived but says she will never forget the attack. She made a dash for the river bank after the croc repeatedly bumped her canoe and managed to climb a tree when the croc lunged, snapping its massive jaws around her legs. The croc snatched her out of the tree and ``death rolled'' her twice before letting go, possibly to get a better grip with its teeth. This gave Ms Plumwood another chance to climb the tree, but the croc lunged a second time, chomping its jaws into her thigh and dragging her under water for another death roll. But the croc again let go. She struggled up the bank and dragged herself as far away as possible from the water and was found by rangers in a swamp bleeding with serious injuries which included a large part of her thigh bitten off and hanging by mangled tendons. |
A local man went fishing at the Oenpelli border crossing on the border of Kakadu and Arnhem land. He waded through the water to the other side as he thought there was better fishing there and spent several hours on that side, all along knowing there was a crocodile in the area watching him. It is common for locals in crocodile areas to become complacent about crocodiles as they get used to them. When the man had finished his fishing he started to wade back along the causeway to get back to his car but the water had risen by now and it pushed him off and he floated downstream. Some American tourists sitting on the riverbank saw what happened and started their video camera rolling. The man managed to get to the riverbank but as it was muddy and slippery was a bit slow to make his way out and that's when the croc burst out of the water, snapped his jaws around the man's head which tore off and submerged again, horrified witnesses saw the headless body floating downstream. There are reports that the man was so slow getting out of the water because he had his fishing gear in one hand and his beer in the other hand and , despite being aware of the croc, did not want to let go of either. The Yanks meanwhile had some great holiday memories on their video camera of which stills were splashed all over the frontpage of the local paper the Northern Territory News for the next week, they love it when things like this happen, sales go through to the roof.
German tourist Isabel von Jordon was killed by a 4.6 metre crocodile while swimming in Sandy Billabong in the Kakadu National Park on 22 October 2002. Together with her sister she had left Bali in a hurry after the bombing of the Sari club thinking she was going to be safer in Australia. The tourgroup that they were with had been drinking and it was late at night they felt like a swim to cool down. Their tourguide, Glenn Robless, went for a swim first and some time later declared it was OK to swim and the rest of the group of nine went in the water. One of the people in her group later told how he felt the 500 kg. crocodile brush past him and it snatched Isabel a second later. Her body was recovered 500 meters up river the following morning but as it was on the bottom and several other crocodiles were hanging around none of the rangers felt like going down there so they harpooned the body to pull it to the surface. The tourguide had to face the court but somehow got let off with a suspended sentence., though later he had to face another inquest that found his actions were inexplicable, inexcusable and grossly negligent. The court also heard that another group was preparing to go for a swim as the attack happened. Local rangers and an Aboriginal elder said they had never heard of anyone swimming in SAndy Billabong before. Over 22 years, about 3.5 million people have visited Kakadu and over the last 17 years only one local and one tourist had been killed by a crocodile.
A ten year old girl at Patonga outstation (small remote Aboriginal community) near Jabiru in Kakadu National Park was playing in a billabong by herself when a small crocodile attacked her. The reptile bit her leg but she managed to fight it off, alert her family who was nearby ,and after initial treatment in Jabiru was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital.
A man was fishing on the South Alligator River in
Kakadu and had just caught a nice 70cm. barramundi when a 4 metre
saltwater crocodile leapt out of the water and grabbed his net,
they had a tug of war for a while but then the fisherman let go.
Two wildlife rangers were called to the scene and later spotted
the croc chomping away at the net in his mouth. They later followed
him downstream and harpooned him, he trashed about and suddenly
went straight to the bottom, a post-mortem later revealed the croc
had drowned, most likely because of the net blocking his airway.
12 Year old Sam West was swimming in the Kimberleys about 20m from shore when suddenly he found his head inside the jaws of a three metre saltwater crocodile. He gouged the crocodile's eyes and the crocodile let go and then gripped him again and again, a total of four or five times, causing multiple injuries to the boy. When his father got him back on the fishing trawler he sent out a distress call on the radio that was picked up by a passing plane that landed and flew him to Darwin, about 600km. away, for treatment at the hospital.
At this very remote waterfall in the Kimberleys in northern W.A. American model Ginger Meadows took a swim and was killed and partly eaten by a crocodile at the foot of King's Cascade waterfall on the Prince Regent River in 1987.
Eight year old Aussie girl Taleesha Fagatilli was playing in shallow water at Port Douglas' Four Mile Beach when a salt water crocodile latched on to her and dragged her into deeper water. For unknown reasons the crocodile let go and she swam back to shore and was taken to hospital to treat bites to leg, chest and arm. This attack was highly unusual as crocs do not normally attack in the ocean.
Early June a dog was taken by a three metre saltwater
crocodile in a lake in Reef Park, a suburb of Port Douglas in North
Queensland. Residents say the croc has lived in their suburb for
years but is now growing to a size that he might change his diet
from dogs to children, the local primary school is warning their
students to stay away from the lake.
In April 2009 a resident of Lake Estate was walking her dog and
found a three metre crocodile parading up and down the lake with
a smaller one in its jaws, in the middle of town these two crocodiles
had gotten in to a territorial dispute and the bigger one of the
two had ripped the head off the smaller rival. Rangers set traps
to try and catch the croc to relocate it as it was thought to be
too dangerous to leave the croc there in the middle of town where
children could be playing near the lake.
32-years old Peter Reimers was killed by a crocodile
at Weipa in North-Queens land in a characteristic encounter.
Close to the bank tracks were found of a large crocodile that was
lying there and probably slid into the water silently as soon as
it heard the man approaching. As soon as Reimers waded through the
water he was seized and killed by the crocodile.
When fishermen on the Mission Rover, just north of Weipa, caught a 1.2 metre bull shark they decided to throw it back. But it was not the shark's lucky day as a 3.5 metre croc burst out of the muddy water and had himj for dinner. The fishermen managed to get some good photos of it too.
One of the most famous crocodiles in Australia's history is Sweetheart. Between September 1978 and July 1979 there was a string of attacks on small aluminium fishing boats in the Finniss River, Northern Territory when a 5.1 metre male crocodile got into the ( for crocs unusual) habit of biting outboard motors and attacking and overturning boats. He never actually killed anyone but still the The N.T.Parks and Wildlife Commission took action and caught him in july 1979 but the croc died soon after, it is common for crocs that in trying to evade capture they exhaust themselves to the point where they do not recover. His body has been preserved and can now be seen at the Northern Territory Museum and Art Galleries of the N.T. in Fannie Bay, Darwin.
Legend has it that in the Normanton river, several kilometres from the town of Normanton, NW Queensland, there was a ginormous croc. Krystina Pawloski, a woman of small build but handy with the gun, shot a crocodile measuring around nine metres in the Norman River in July 1958. There is an awesome replica in the main street of Normanton which the locals swear is true to size, reportedly the actual skin was used for this statue as a 'mould' to make sure of correct size and proportions, the skin is still kept in Townsville, north Queensland.
This movie is not shot in Australia but is an awesome movie showing the hunting techniques of the crocodile;
And these two movies show some crocodile attacks where some idiots were asking for it, the bottom movie shows the death roll technique very well;
Czech republic ; A pet crocodile caused public consternation in Prague in august 2003 after it flung itself from a second-floor balcony and went for an unsupervised walk around the Czech capital.
The reptile, measuring around 1.5 metres (five feet), launched its daring bid for freedom while its owner slept, and was discovered soon afterwards by a woman who had gone out to feed local stray cats in downtown Prague.
The crocodile was later recaptured without incident and returned to its owner, who faced a substantial fine.
Malaysia : A 42 year old company director is sueing A Famosa Golf Resort because a five metre crocodile grabbed his leg and tried to pull him into a pond as he played the 7th hole. The injured man, Terry Hong Kee Siong, needed 38 stitches to his leg.
Note from the webmaster: five metres? I doubt it, there is no way he would have been able to survive that!
| Taiwan, July 2007: 38 year old veterinarean Chang Po-Yu was working at the Shou Shan Zoo in Kaohsinung on 5.5 meter long crocodile Chu-Chu. The poor croc had not eaten for six months and so the vet thought he'd treat the croc for its loss of appetite. After a sedation shot Chang put his hand inside the croc's mouth to find what was wrong with him but unfortunately the croc woke up, had a very sudden appetite, and bit Chang's arm off at the elbow. While Chang was taken to hospital zoo staff and police spent over half an hour convincing the hungry croc to not eat the arm and give it back to them, in the end a few bullets fired at the croc's head (that bounced off) finally made him surrender the arm, which was rushed to hospital and re-attached in a six hour operation. |
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Do you know of (or have survived) a crocodile attack? Then contact us!
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