NT wildlife rangers capture enormous 4.4metre, crocodile found lurking at a popular tourist spot

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NT wildlife rangers capture enormous 4.4metre, crocodile found lurking at a popular tourist spot 

Wildlife rangers have captured a monster crocodile at a popular tourist spot in the Northern Territory.

The male saltwater crocodile is 4.4 metres long and weighed in at 350kg when it was caught in the Flora River Nature Park, 120 kilometres south of Katherine in the Northern Territory, on Friday.  

Katherine senior wildlife ranger John Burke said the reptile was caught in a spot that visitors frequently walk by. 

‘The tourists walk down to the river in the area where he was,’ Mr Burke told ABC News.   

Mr Burke said he did not know of a larger crocodile caught in the Flora River. 

A park ranger pours water over a captured saltwater crocodile to cool it down. The reptile is 4.4 metres long and weighed in at 350kg when it was caught in the Flora River Nature Park, 120 kilometres south of Katherine in the Northern Territory, on Friday

Pictures and video of the crocodile show it tied down, blindfolded and blanketed on an extended car trailer. 

Its webbed feet are also shown to be over twice the size of a human hand in a side-by-side photo. 

The captured predator has now been taken to a crocodile farm to become part of a breeding program. Farmed crocodiles can also be killed for their meat and leather.   

‘Hopefully, it will be a little croc resort there and he’ll have a new girlfriend,’ Mr Burke said.      

The wildlife ranger explained that people need to be ‘crocwise’ on NT waterways since the cold-blooded reptiles are becoming more active as the weather warms up. 

The crocodile was tied down, blindfolded and blanketed on an extended car trailer before being transported to a farm for a breeding program 

Its webbed feet are also shown to be much larger than a human hand in a side-by-side photo

‘They’re moving into breeding season as well, and the rivers are low and they’re out looking for mates, particularly the big males,’ Mr Burke said.

While Mr Burke cannot recall a larger crocodile in the Flora River, an even bigger reptile has been caught in the same wildlife management zone.  

A 4.71-metre crocodile was captured two hours north-east in the Katherine River, which is closer to the sea, three years ago. 

Crocs are trapped in large cages baited with wild pig and other meats and submerged in waterways. 

Their numbers have been increasing across Australia’s tropical north since federal law made them a protected species in the early 1970s. 

Mr Burke said the crocodile was likely on the move looking for a mate as the weather warms up and breeding season kicks off. He warned people to be ‘crocwise’ on NT waterways

Source: Daily Mail Australia | News Colony

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