Officers make horrifying find in stomach of 14-foot crocodile euthanized after attacking man and his dog
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA: Wildlife authorities euthanized a 4.2-meter crocodile in Far North Queensland after it attacked a man and ate his dog. Alister MacPhee is making a full recovery at the Cairns Hospital after being attacked on Wednesday, February 22, at a boat ramp in Bloomfield, which is located about 50 kilometers south of Cooktown.
Although MacPhee has denied interviews, he has issued a statement for Cairns Hospital in which he expressed gratitude to the hospital's personnel and the emergency services for taking care of him. He also thanked his dog, Magic Molly, "who was always by (his) side" "I have, unfortunately, learned the hard way (that) everyone needs to be croc-wise in croc territory," MacPhee said, as per ABC News.
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Video footage obtained by Daily Mail shows a crocodile abruptly leaping out of the water and biting off a significant portion of MacPhee's leg before latching onto his dog. The said crocodile was later found about 200 meters from the boat ramp. The boat ramp is situated in a place where wildlife officers euthanize crocodiles that are believed to be a danger to the community.
Magic Molly's remains were found inside the crocodile
Officers discovered the dog's remains while doing a necropsy on the crocodile that was killed this morning, February 24. "Molly was inside that crocodile," said Michael Joyce, Department of Environment and Science Incident Controller. According to Joyce, MacPhee should have been aware of the dangers because he had "come from croc territory to croc country." "I would've expected him to know better," he said. "If you go into croc territory and try to go swimming in somewhere like the Bloomfield, and the crocodile then associates humans with a food source, that's going to change that crocodile's behavior."
The crocodile was killed 'as (humanely) as possible'
Joyce said the need to shoot the crocodile was "really disappointing for all of us" and claimed that wildlife officers underwent training in order to guarantee that reptiles were put to death "as (humanely) as possible." "This is the easiest and most direct manner in which to make sure the crocodile we take out of the system is the crocodile who did actually take Molly," Joyce said.
"The euthanasia of such a large old crocodile in its natural habitat was unfortunately unavoidable," Joyce continued. "It's important for communities in croc country to feel safe and for problem crocodiles to be dealt with appropriately. Remember, warning signs are not there as decoration and swimming in croc country is a choice."
