{"id":324655,"date":"2026-03-02T08:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/324655\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:03:09","slug":"crocodile-spotted-in-creek-behind-bunnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/324655\/","title":{"rendered":"Crocodile spotted in creek behind Bunnings"},"content":{"rendered":"

A freshwater crocodile has been rescued from a creek located near a Bunnings store hundreds of kilometres south of its usual habitat.<\/p>\n

Emergency services and wildlife rescuers were called to Ironbark Creek at Wallsend, in Newcastle\u2019s west, after a juvenile crocodile was spotted in murky waters about 4.30pm on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Police attended Federal Park and found a juvenile crocodile in the water.<\/p>\n

A police spokesman said officers set up a perimeter around a pond to prevent the reptile from escaping and to keep the public safe.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Australian Reptile Park keeper Billy Collett worked across the weekend to safely secure the juvenile crocodile in Wallsend on Sunday night. Image: Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unknown how long the crocodile had been in the water or how it arrived there,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo further crocodiles have been located in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wildlife rescuers and SES members tried to retrieve the animal on Saturday but were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Australian Reptile Park keeper Billy Collett returned to the area with a team on Sunday and were able to \u201csafely secure the little croc\u201d which was captured 3km downstream from where it was originally seen.<\/p>\n

An Australian Reptile Park spokesman said the animals were native to northern Australia, but did not inhabit areas of NSW.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Australian Reptile Park keeper Billy Collett found the freshwater crocodile 3km downstream from where it was seen. Picture: Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cWith colder weather on the way, this youngster wouldn\u2019t have survived for long in these conditions,\u201d a spokesman said on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe croc has now been safely transported to the Australian Reptile Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman said a veterinary team was providing the animal a full health check to make sure it was getting proper care.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge thank you to the locals who reported the sighting, you did the right thing,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, if you ever see unusual wildlife, don\u2019t approach it. Call the authorities and let trained professionals handle it safely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just glad this little croc is now safe in our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A freshwater crocodile has been rescued from a creek located near a Bunnings store hundreds of kilometres south…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[44022,44024,150583,150586,150584,61,60,150585,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-324655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-australian-reptile-park","9":"tag-billy-collett","10":"tag-bunnings","11":"tag-federal-park","12":"tag-freshwater-crocodile","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-police-spokesman","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}