{"id":513080,"date":"2026-03-02T03:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513080\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T03:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:27:09","slug":"crocodile-spotted-in-suburban-newcastle-creek-captured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513080\/","title":{"rendered":"Crocodile spotted in suburban Newcastle creek captured"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reptile experts from a NSW wildlife park have successfully captured a freshwater crocodile a day after it was spotted wading through a suburban creek in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

The croc was first seen in Ironbark Creek at Wallsend<\/a> on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Police established a perimeter around the waterway to stop the croc escaping and to keep curious onlookers safe.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Australian Wildlife Park rangers finally found the crocodile on Sunday evening. (ABC Newcastle: Nakita Jager)<\/p>\n

Croc handlers from the Australian Reptile Park and the SES were called in to try to retrieve the animal, but had no luck on Saturday.<\/p>\n

They returned again and safely captured the croc late on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Australian Reptile Park keeper Billy Collett, who captured the croc, told ABC Newcastle Breakfast’s Paul Culliver<\/a> he was shocked to hear it was in the suburbs.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Australian Reptile Park keeper Billy Collett safely captured the croc in a suburban creek in Newcastle. (Supplied: Australian Reptile Park)<\/p>\n

“We got a phone call from the police in Newcastle saying there was a croc on the loose behind Bunnings at Wallsend and I thought, you’ve got to be joking me,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Collett said trying to locate the small croc was like “finding a needle in a haystack”, until it suddenly appeared.<\/p>\n

“It was a really long jump that I had to do \u2026 I just dove into the [water],” he said.<\/p>\n

“I had a head torch that had come off when I hit the water and just everything just went dark.<\/p>\n

“I got a hand on him mid-body and yeah, I couldn’t believe it, I caught him.”<\/p>\n

Mr Collett said even young crocs could be quite powerful.<\/p>\n

“They’re still really strong and they still bite \u2026 they’ll ruin your day pretty quick from a bite from one, even one that size.”Croc to be assessed<\/p>\n

On Saturday afternoon, locals in the area posted videos and pictures to social media, alerting the public to the sighting.<\/p>\n

A police statement said there had been no other reports of crocodiles in the area since the capture, and it was not known how the reptile got there.<\/p>\n

Mr Collett said he and his crew brought the crocodile back to the Australian Reptile Park for assessment.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The freshwater crocodile was spotted in Ironbark Creek near Newcastle. (Supplied: Stephanie Kirsop)<\/p>\n

“Obviously his welfare is our biggest priority, he would have perished down here for sure,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re taking him to the vet for a vet check, and then we are going to wait for the department to make a decision on what they want us to do.”<\/p>\n

Mr Collett said he had his suspicions about how the croc came to be in a suburban creek.<\/p>\n

“There’s no way he’s booked a flight from Darwin and come down and landed at Newcastle,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So he’s likely an escaped pet, whether that was legally housed or illegally housed \u2026 but that’s not up to me to worry about.<\/p>\n

“My biggest worry for him is just his welfare.”<\/p>\n

Police have urged anyone with information to come forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reptile experts from a NSW wildlife park have successfully captured a freshwater crocodile a day after it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,118367,138248,256768,40852,44,18329],"class_list":{"0":"post-513080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-capture","11":"tag-creek","12":"tag-crocofile","13":"tag-freshwater","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-reptile"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}