DRUNK TOURIST MAULED BY FATSO THE CRCODILE…..AFTER TRYING TO RIDE THE 18FT-LONG BEAST
By Richard Shears
Mail Online
July 13, 2010
There's an unwritten rule in Australia's outback - if you drink too much, don't mess with the wildlife.
One tourist who either hadn't heard the warning or who was too drunk to care decided after a few hours at a tavern that he'd go for a ride.....on a crocodile.
The 36-year-old man, whose name is being withheld by police because 'he's suffered enough embarrassment and injury', climbed over a fence surrounding a crocodile enclosure on the outskirts of the town of Broome, Western Australia.
This is the home of Fatso, a monster 18ft saltwater crocodile, one of the most dangerous creatures on earth, and who guards his territory ferociously.
Without a thought for the possibility that he could end up in Fatso's stomach, the tourist - believed to be from New South Wales - hurled himself at the crocodile and tried to take a ride on his back.
'Fatso has taken offence to this and has spun around and bit this man on the right leg,' said Sergeant Roger Haynes of Broome police.
'For an unknown reason, the crocodile has let him go and he's been able to scale the fence again and leave the wildlife park.'
Trailing blood from severe wounds in his leg, the man made his way back to the pub, where an ambulance was called. Sgt Haynes said the visitor had some 'very nasty lacerations' and would spend some time in the hospital because crocodile wounds are prone to infection.’
'He's extremely lucky to have got out of there alive,' said Sgt Haynes. 'Once saltwater crocodiles get hold of you, they are not renowned for letting you go.'
'No person in their right mind would try to sit on a huge saltwater crocodile,' he said.
Mr Malcolm Douglas who owns the crocodile park said the drunken visitor was 'incredibly lucky' to survive his brush with the 125 stone reptile.
Fatso has a violent history. He was moved to the wildlife park from a Northern Territory river 20 years ago because he was attacking boats.
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