A restrained man-eating saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus. Transport procedure requires covering the animal’s eyes to minimize stress.

You might think I caught this 17.5 foot saltwater crocodile. No, I just posed with it to test my camera and develop black and white photos in the photo lab myself. This crocodile traveled about 200 kilometers from Rio Tuba, a southern barangay of Palawan to the Crocodile Farming Institute facility engaged in conserving crocodiles where I once worked.

Why? It mangled a man to pieces!

You might think how cruel this crocodile was. But wait, this is what actually took place.

A fisherman was using a homemade explosive to fish in an estuary. He found his method quite effective as when he threw the explosives, lots of fish surfaced. He swam towards the deeper portion of the river to gather his catch. All should have gone well when he heard his son yell, that something – a crocodile – was swimming towards his direction! He frantically headed his way back to shore but when he had almost been there, the crocodile snapped at him in front of his son’s eyes. It took three days to catch the crocodile and along the way, crocodile trappers from our institute recovered half of the fisherman’s body from two different locations.

When we examined the crocodile, we found out that the belly of the crocodile sustained injury due to the explosion. The gaping wound on the underside would have caused the crocodile’s death after a few days of trying to treat it. Also, the vets explained the long trip worsened its condition as crocodiles are known to build up too much lactic acid in their bodies when stressed. The result is somewhat similar to humans having high blood pressure.

Now, the magnificent predator’s skeleton encased in glass and the skin hanging on the wall welcomes tourists visiting the crocodile conservation facility.

My visitors Ellen and Joann pose with the crocodile skin and skeleton.