A juvenile freshwater crocodile has been captured in Ironbark Creek in Newcastle, New South Wales, about 2,500 kilometres south of its natural range. The reptile was first spotted by a group of teenagers at Federal Park in Wallsend on Saturday, sparking disbelief among local residents.
Stephanie Kirsop, mother of one of the teenagers, said her son initially struggled to convince her of the sighting. 'It took him about two hours to fully convince me to go down there and have a look,' she said. When she arrived, she saw the crocodile swimming in the water near a local pool and primary school.
After contacting wildlife rescue groups and police, a team of crocodile handlers from the Australian Reptile Park, led by Billy Collett, captured the animal on Sunday night. The team used a motored tinnie after an unsuccessful attempt with a rescue raft on Saturday. Collett described grabbing the crocodile from the water near wetlands about 3km downstream from its original location.
The crocodile, a subadult female slightly under a metre long, is believed to be up to 10 years old. Freshwater crocodiles are typically found in northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Collett suggested it may have been an escaped pet, as the species cannot survive NSW's colder winters.
The reptile was transported to the Australian Reptile Park on the Central Coast for health assessments. NSW police confirmed there were no further sightings of other crocodiles in the area, and it remains unknown how long the animal had been in the creek or how it arrived there.
