Story By: Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Asia Wire Report
AsiaWire/@mattwright
A real-life Australian Crocodile Dundee has agreed to help catch a wild crocodile which has had a motorcycle tyre stuck around its next for around four years.
TV celeb Matt Wright, star of the TV show Monster Croc Wrangler which is broadcast on the National Geographic channel, has agreed to catch the poor crocodile after local officials tried to get help for the huge reptile – and nobody came forward.
Reports said the crocodile, which measures four metres (13 feet) in length, was first spotted with the tyre around its neck in the Palu River in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi around four years ago.
The local authorities and conservationists have previously tried to catch crocodile to help it, but failed to do so.
The Central Sulawesi Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA Central Sulawesi) then launched a contest to remove the tyre from around the neck of the crocodile which failed to attract any participants, according to local media.
However, Australian TV presenter Matt Wright was filmed on location pointing out where the croc was located and detailing his strategy for catching it.
He said: “There is a good chance we might catch him, he’s actually sitting just up here on that rock wall. That Rock Island. He’s there right now.”
He also said he did not think there was much danger that the croc would be aggressive because there was a lot of food including goats and cattle floating down from upstream and therefore the crocodile was unlikely to be too hungry.
He said that he and fellow crocodile observer Chris Wilson have agreed to assist BKSDA Central Sulawesi catch the wild crocodile.
A BKSDA Central Sulawesi official told local media: “After consulting with the ministry’s biodiversity conservation directorate general, both of them were allowed to immediately join the rescue team.”
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