Saltwater Crocodile Attack in Palawan

The picture above shows a restrained man-eating saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus in the Crocodile Farming Institute in Irawan, Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, the Philippines. The crocodile attacked a fisherman in a river located far south of Palawan.

Transport procedure requires covering the animal’s eyes to minimize stress. 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.

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.

Why? The saltwater crocodile mangled a man to pieces!

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

The Saltwater Crocodile and the Fisherman

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 saltwater crocodile – was swimming towards his direction!

The fisherman frantically swam to shore but was too late because the crocodile mercilessly attacked and snapped at him in front of his son’s eyes. The fisherman was dragged along by the crocodile into the water just like a rag doll. [A crocodile generates so much force (about 2 tons according to a study) that once a person's body is clamped between its powerful jaws, there is no way he can escape it.]

It took three days to catch the crocodile. Along the way, crocodile trappers from the crocodile farm recovered half of the fisherman’s body from two different locations.

The Gaping Wound

When the veterinarians examined the crocodile, they found out that the belly of the saltwater crocodile sustained a gaping wound on its belly due to the explosion. It was hurt by the blast of explosives used by the fisherman. Despite attempts to treat it, the gaping wound on the underside caused the crocodile’s death a few days later. Also, the veterinarians explained that 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 experiencing high blood pressure.

Now, the crocodile’s skeleton encased in glass and the skin hanging on the wall welcome tourists visiting the crocodile conservation facility. It has become an attraction where people pose for posterity.

My visitors Ellen and Joann pose in front of the crocodile skin and skeleton.

The Stomach Contents

One of my job at the crocodile conservation facility was to examine the diet of crocodiles. I examined the stomach contents of the above saltwater crocodile and saw a brief branded “Brute” still almost intact. There were some pubic hair in it, some fish remnants, along with some pebbles (Crocodiles ingest pebbles or stones probably to help grind its food). There is no doubt that the captured crocodile was the one that victimized the fisherman. 

Postscript

For 200 million years, crocodiles have not changed in morphology. Known for being highly resilient, crocodiles thrived despite anthropogenic pressures on its environment. Man’s intrusion into its habitat, however, increased the crocodile’s vulnerability as it is treated with contempt.