Croc hunting!

We have been catching crocs to stop them coming into the ponds. The crocs live in the big river running alongside the farm. The first one we caught was a massive fourteen foot long male. The crocs can swim under the fence at one point where there is a bit of a lagoon. The lagoon area ha a secondary fence as staff were reluctant to use the short cut walkway to the other side of the farm across the lagoon. One part of the fence opens into a large metal cage with a pigs leg hanging at one end. When the croc pulls on the meat the cage door drops. The crocs are not very happy about this so we cover the cage with a tarpaulin to calm them down as they can badly damage themselves in the cage. A local croc farm then comes to help the capture of the croc so they can use them for breeding.

When the croc is in the cage you have to get a rope around it’s neck. That’s not very easy when the croc panics thrashing around wildly. Someone stands on the top of the cage and others use sticks to guide the rope. The fence around the water is pulled away at this point. Once the rope is around the crocs neck the door of the cage is opened and the croc heads into the water. The big male pulled the ten men who were holding the rope along few several meters before he performed a death roll. The death roll is used by the crocs when they are hunting it is basically a very fast repeated roll.

To summaries at this point you have a very large and very angry croc on the end of a piece of rope. The jaws of the croc have not been tide at this point and it is highly unpredictably and dangerous time. The croc is then pulled onto the land. It was very concerning as we were worried that the croc was being strangled by the rope. Once on land a tarpaulin is placed on top of the croc and people sit on top of it. Sounds easy…. With the tarpaulin covering the croc the it's carefully pulled back so the jaws can be tied. And a sack placed over the head. It all becomes a little less tense at this point. The front legs have to be tied up and the tail is also tide to the back legs. It took fifteen men to then lift the croc to the back of the truck. At one point he decided he did not like to be carried and shook off all the carries. The guys from the croc farm pounced straight back on our guys were a little more hesitant! He arrived at his new home in good condition and was even well enough to chase a guy up the wall. That our boy!!