Jail house croc

Police at Gunbalanya in the Northern Territory captured a 2 metre crocodile that was reported loitering near the township by concerned locals. The police captured and bound up the croc and kept her in the jail cell for 3 days. The policeman was quoted;

"I wanted to jump on it Steve Irwin style," he said. "But (the rangers) wouldn't let me."

Perhaps they didn't want him to use unnecessary force.

A few months earlier Police at the same community shot dead a crocodile that was also found walking overland. On this occasion they stated that the crocodile had become aggressive and was attacking a fence. A fence which apparently was the barricade between the crocodile and the safety of the waterhole on the other side.

Crocodiles attack idiots

With some of the crocodile attack stories that occur you would wonder whether the victim was attempting to make a claim for the Darwin awards.

A few days ago a man was attacked by a crocodile after swimming at Bucket Billabong within Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It is a location that is well known and signposted as being crocodile habitat and people are warned not to swim. The victim received deep puncture wounds to his arm and was treated at a nearby clinic in Jabiru.

Also within the last week, an American tourist was attacked by a crocodile near the Mexican tourist resort of Cancun. The victim approached the waters edge to take a leak when he was attacked by the crocodile. He received multiple bites wounds and a head injury but survived to tell the story, sheepishly. The area also reportedly has plenty of crocodile warning signs in place.

This goes to show that although crocodile warning signs are important for crocodile safety and most people take them seriously, there are always a few who think they know better.

Croc Attacks

Animal attacks grab peoples' attention like little else. Despite the relatively low numbers involved, they always make headline news around the world. Crocodile attacks are most common in Africa and Asia although many go unreported or are poorly documented, unlike attacks in the western world...

List of fatal Alligator attacks in the United States (click here)

Australia's history of fatal attacks ( from www.ntnews.com.au)

MARCH 2009: Briony Goodsell, 11, taken by croc swimming with her seven-year-old sister and two friends, aged 10 and 12, in Black Jungle Swamp in outskirts of rural Darwin.

FEBRUARY 2009: Five-year-old Jeremy Doble killed in the Daintree River in far north Queensland after following his dog into the river where his parents run a tour company.

SEPTEMBER 2008: Vietnam veteran Arthur Booker, 62, taken while checking crab pots at a holiday campsite on the Endeavour River near Cooktown in far north Queensland.

JULY 2006: Eight-year-old girl killed by a five-metre crocodile near Maningrida.

SEPTEMBER 2005: Darwin man Russell August Butel, 55, taken off the Cobourg Peninsula, NT

SEPTEMBER 2005: Briton Russell Harris, 37, attacked by 4m crocodile snorkelling off Groote Eylandt, NT, in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

AUGUST 2005: Fisherman Barry Jefferies killed when croc grabbed his arm and pulled him from a canoe at Lakefield National Park.

DECEMBER 2003: Brett Mann, 22, attacked wading into Finniss River, 80km from Darwin.

OCTOBER 2002: Isabel von Jordan, a 24-year-old student from Germany, was killed by a 5m croc in Kakadu billabong.

DECEMBER 1998: Peter Munkara, 34, an artist from Melville Island, north of Darwin, was found near the island's Paru boat ramp with crocodile bite marks on his body.

AUGUST 1998: Body of man in 20s found in Roper River, 500km southeast of Darwin.

DECEMBER 1997: A man killed trying to swim across the Daly River, 230km south of Darwin.

NOVEMBER 1994: Graham Freeman, 28, a croc handler at croc farm, near Innisfail, Qld, attacked by 4m croc in a tourist demonstration.

MAY 1990: Albert Juzelionas, 43, a Jabiru Telecom worker, killed off Groote Eylandt.

OCTOBER 1988: Alex Bururru, 25, of Maningrida, killed in Cato River near Nhulunbuy, NT.

JUNE 1987: Cornwall Mooka, 37, of Mabuiag Island in north Queensland, killed by 3.3m croc.

MARCH 1987: US model Ginger Meadows, 24, was taken by a 3m croc while swimming in the Prince Regent River in WA's Kimberley region.

MARCH 1987: Kerry McLoughlin, 40, a Jabiru storeman, decapitated by a 5.1m crocodile while wading at Cahill's Crossing on the East Alligator River in Kakadu.

SEPTEMBER 1986: Lee McLeod, 39, from Borroloola, killed by 5.1m croc while sleeping on the bank of the McArthur River.

DECEMBER 1985: Berryl Wruck, 43, of Daintree in north Queensland, attacked in 45cm of water in a creek off Daintree River.

1980: Paul Flanagan swimming at night near Wyndham in WA when attacked.

1980: Bakurra Munyarryun was fishing in Cato River when attacked.

1979: Trevor Gaghan killed while skindiving near Nhulunbuy, NT.

1975: Peter Reimer, 32, killed wading in a creek near Weipa, Queensland.