tinpis
28th Oct 2004, 17:25
Pilots net croc inside airport
By GREG McLEAN
October 29, 2004
Three pilots captured a 2.5m saltwater crocodile in an airport hangar yesterday.
Anthony Lamb, 26, Mark Attard, 23, and 25-year-old Brett Costain spent three hours trying to snare the saltie.
A passenger heading for a flight alerted the trio to the croc at Gunbalanya, 350km southeast of Darwin.
"We found him boxed-in near the water tank -- he was obviously a bit thirsty," said Mr Lamb, who works for Gunbalanya Air Charters.
"None of us had ever caught a crocodile before but we decided to give it a crack because we wanted to release him somewhere safe.
"We had a bit of time up our sleeves and some bits of rope and an old tennis net.
"At first we just tried to get him out in the open so he didn't hurt himself."
After spending a couple of hours chasing the croc around the tarmac the pilots gave up on their lasso technique and tried a new approach with the tennis net.
On the 10th attempt they finally caught the croc.
"He did a death roll, which was his ultimate undoing because he rolled himself into the net," Mr Lamb said.
"As soon as he was caught up the three of us jumped on him and tied up his jaws.
"It was pretty hot and I think he just started to get tired, but he was a pretty smart crocodile.
"After we'd secured him we took him out to a local billabong and released him.
"It certainly wasn't a normal day's work -- we're considering giving up our day jobs to become flying croc hunters. My family back in Brisbane will be proud."
Northern Territory News
:p
Quite a smart photo of the lads on the front page as well.
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,391887,00.jpg
By GREG McLEAN
October 29, 2004
Three pilots captured a 2.5m saltwater crocodile in an airport hangar yesterday.
Anthony Lamb, 26, Mark Attard, 23, and 25-year-old Brett Costain spent three hours trying to snare the saltie.
A passenger heading for a flight alerted the trio to the croc at Gunbalanya, 350km southeast of Darwin.
"We found him boxed-in near the water tank -- he was obviously a bit thirsty," said Mr Lamb, who works for Gunbalanya Air Charters.
"None of us had ever caught a crocodile before but we decided to give it a crack because we wanted to release him somewhere safe.
"We had a bit of time up our sleeves and some bits of rope and an old tennis net.
"At first we just tried to get him out in the open so he didn't hurt himself."
After spending a couple of hours chasing the croc around the tarmac the pilots gave up on their lasso technique and tried a new approach with the tennis net.
On the 10th attempt they finally caught the croc.
"He did a death roll, which was his ultimate undoing because he rolled himself into the net," Mr Lamb said.
"As soon as he was caught up the three of us jumped on him and tied up his jaws.
"It was pretty hot and I think he just started to get tired, but he was a pretty smart crocodile.
"After we'd secured him we took him out to a local billabong and released him.
"It certainly wasn't a normal day's work -- we're considering giving up our day jobs to become flying croc hunters. My family back in Brisbane will be proud."
Northern Territory News
:p
Quite a smart photo of the lads on the front page as well.
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,391887,00.jpg