NZ tourist's bricks more than croc could chew

Photo / Supplied

A captive crocodile at Alice Springs is lucky to be alive after a reckless New Zealand tourist threw bricks at him.

Alice Springs Reptile Centre's resident saltwater crocodile, Terry, 19, almost swallowed one brick before he was rescued by staff, the Herald Sun reported.

The tourist wanted to see Terry open his mouth for a photo - so he jumped over the barricade and threw two bricks at the crocodile, said Alice Springs Reptile Centre owner Rex Neindorf.

"I was walking past on Saturday afternoon and something caught my eye. I went to check on Terry and I saw him with the brick," he said.

"He had his mouth above water so I knew he was about to swallow it.

"I bashed him on the nose with a pool pole. It was the only thing I could do to make him drop the brick.

"I had to hit him six times before he let go. I had to hit him so hard that the pole broke. If Terry had swallowed the brick, he would have died."

"He chipped three teeth, but they'll fall out and he'll grow new ones.

"The brick actually has teeth marks embedded in it.

Mr Neindorf said the New Zealand tourist was frightened.

"He hadn't thought about the consequences... People need to think about the consequences before they do silly things around animals," he said. To get a new crocodile and bring it to Alice Springs would cost the reptile centre A$100,000 ($134,000).

"It would have resulted in a lot of money lost for that tourist - one expensive trip to the zoo."

Mr Neindorf said he hoped Terry, which became a resident at the reptile centre in 2002 and weighed about 220kg, would grow to weigh about one tonne and live between 70 to 100 years.

- NZPA