Australian man attacked by crocodile and survived by biting back

Colin Deveraux told national broadcaster ABC he was working along the Finniss River in the Northern Territory when he stopped to check on a billabong, an Australian term for a pond left behind when the river recedes.

small fever can be recovered after being attacked picture 1 — Illustration: GI

He could see some fish in the middle of the remaining water and decided to try to catch some, before realizing that there was something unusual in the water and decided to run away.

“I took two steps and the croc grabbed my right leg,” Deveraux told ABC. “It was a big bite… it shook me like a rag doll and pulled me about three metres into the water.”

Deveraux said he kicked the crocodile and fell down near its head before trying to bite it. “I got a bite,” he said, but couldn’t keep hold of the crocodile’s head.

Deveraux said he tried to bite the animal’s eyelid, which he described as “pretty thick.” “I pulled back and after about a second, it just went past me and let go,” he continued, after which Deveraux rolled over and ran away. “It chased me, I think, for about three or four metres… but then stopped,” he said.

Deveraux recounted how he stopped the bleeding with some kind of string and then went to the hospital, where he was told he had tendon damage and “two large bite marks the length of a foot.”

They then fixed the wound with staples and a skin graft from above the knee, Deveraux said, adding that he has recovered well. “I can bend my toes, I can feel all my toes,” he said.

Deveraux said he “had no choice” but to fight back. “Like I said, it all happened in about eight seconds,” he said. “I think if it had bitten me somewhere else, it would have been different.”

The saltwater crocodile was about 10 feet long, Deveraux added. “It was really in its prime,” he said.

The ABC reports that Deveraux will be discharged from the Royal Darwin Hospital this week after spending a month recovering from his injuries.

According to Australia Zoo, saltwater crocodiles, known locally as saltwater crocodiles, can grow up to 6 metres long and weigh up to a tonne. There are an estimated 100,000 saltwater crocodiles in Australia, according to federal government estimates.

Mai Van (according to ABC, CNN)

Source