Man Frees Wild Crocodile from Tire Shackles After 6 Years

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A 35-year-old resident of Palu, Central Sulawesi, Hili, on Monday evening managed to capture a local river crocodile that is renowned for a tire that has wrapped around its neck for nearly 6 years. 

The evacuation of the crocodile was done independently by Hili with a makeshift trap and lured the animal to the trap with a chicken as bait.

After successfully capturing the crocodile at 18:30 local time on Tuesday, Hili along with the help of dozens of people present to watch the rare event managed to cut the tire free from the reptile.

“I have prepared this trap for several weeks,” Hili recalled to Antaranews. “There were around 50 people who helped me pull the crocodile to land. It managed to evade my trap three times, luckily this time it worked.”

After the tire was cut away from the crocodile’s neck, the locals along with the Palu conservation agency (BKSDA) released the wildlife back into its habitat.

This particular crocodile became viral in 2016 after a video showed it swimming the river with a tire wrapped around its neck. There were several efforts from international and local reptile rescuers but came to no avail until Tuesday. 

Read: Search and Rescue Team Looks for Missing Child Allegedly Attacked by Crocodile

ANTARA