Horror as 12-year-old schoolgirl is attacked by an 8-foot saltwater crocodile in a remote creek
- Crocodile attacked in a rural creek south of Darwin
- Girl, 12, ‘exceedingly lucky’ to have escaped
- Management team has removed animal from water
A 12-year-old girl narrowly escaped serious injury after being attacked by a large saltwater crocodile in the Northern Territory.
The eight-foot-tall beast attacked a child in a rural creek just south of Darwin.
She was “extremely lucky” to escape and sustain only minor injuries, the Ministry of Environment, Parks and Water Protection said.
She was taken to Palmerston Regional Hospital in stable condition and has since been discharged.
A teenage girl narrowly escaped serious injury after being attacked by a large saltwater crocodile in the Northern Territory. The eight-foot-long beast attacked the teen in a rural creek just south of Darwin (the crocodile is pictured)
“A crocodile of that size can cause major, life-threatening injuries,” the department said in a statement.
“This is a timely reminder to always be Crocwise.
‘High water levels during the wet season make it easy for crocodiles to go unnoticed.
“Crocodiles can inhabit any body of water in the Top End.”
The Crocodile Management Team explained that they recovered the crocodile from the creek just hours after receiving the report.
They have removed more than 70 crocodiles from the area in recent years, some over ten feet long.
The Crocodile Management Team explained that they pulled the crocodile from the creek hours after receiving the report
It comes after a wildlife expert urged governments to take action against a recent social media trend of people deliberately placing themselves in crocodile habitats.
Mick Bender, wildlife educator for Wildlife Unleashed, says he wants the government to introduce fines for people who deliberately enter places where crocodiles are common, to deter people from putting themselves at risk.
The trend originated on social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, where people post videos of themselves entering crocodile breeding grounds and waterways.
His warning comes after 37-year-old Alister MacPhee saw himself walk into the water at a remote boat ramp in Cooktown, north Queensland, before being bitten on the leg by a crocodile that then attacked and killed his dog on February 22.
Daniel Colombini, an influencer from the far north of Queensland, was recently criticized after he was seen jumping off a 10-metre cliff into the crocodile-infested Tully River.
A video shows a man grabbing the tail of a resting crocodile in a small waterway and has been viewed more than 1.3 million times on TikTok.
Another TikTok video that has a similar number of views shows a man on a boat antagonizing a nearby crocodile wearing what appears to be a wetsuit.
A video posted to TikTok by Casey Eames of Queensland shows a crocodile just feet away from the back of his metal dinghy, waiting for food to be thrown from the back.
Mr Eames told Daily Mail Australia in 2022 that people feeding crocodiles are incredibly dangerous as they are likely to attack boats and kill people when they reach adulthood.
“As cool as it would be to feed wild saltwater crocodiles, it’s a stupid thing to do because when they grow up they will capsize a boat and kill someone,” he said.
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