{"id":327067,"date":"2026-03-03T18:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327067\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T18:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:16:10","slug":"crocodile-caught-in-australian-creek-1200-miles-from-tropical-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327067\/","title":{"rendered":"Crocodile caught in Australian creek 1,200 miles from tropical habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ROD McGUIRK<\/p>\n

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Stephanie Kirsop didn\u2019t believe her son when he called to say a crocodile<\/a> was lurking in a creek near their home.<\/p>\n

The family live in the temperate coastal city of Newcastle, which is 1,200 miles south of Australia\u2019s crocodile habitat<\/a> in the tropical north.<\/p>\n

Lionel Saunders, 12, and his friends had spotted the juvenile 39-inch-long croc early Saturday afternoon. Authorities were initially skeptical of the reported find but had caught the elusive reptile by Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son took videos because he was trying to convince me it was real and I didn\u2019t believe him. It did look like a crocodile but I was like, no it\u2019s a log,\u201d Kirsop said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe rang me back a little bit later and he\u2019s like: \u2018I\u2019m so serious mom. You have to come down here and have a look,\u2019\u201d Kirsop said. \u201cThe whole drive down there I\u2019m thinking this is going to be a trick. They\u2019re going to laugh at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was in no doubt it was a crocodile when she arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a little crocodile just swimming around in the creek where local kids go to fish and sometimes kids swim in there. Wow,\u201d Kirsop said.<\/p>\n

She called a wildlife rescue service and was told crocodiles don\u2019t live in the area. Kirsop sent her own photos and video as proof.<\/p>\n

Kirsop was referred to the Australian Reptile Park, which keeps its own crocodiles in a temperature-controlled environment.<\/p>\n

Park manager Billy Collett said he suspected the images might have been artificial intelligence-generated fakes. But police confirmed there was a croc in Ironbark Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit suspicious because we get a lot of phone calls. These days with AI, it\u2019s just so crazy,\u201d Collett said.<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

In this photo provided by Australian Reptile Park, its manager Billy Collett holds a freshwater crocodile caught in a creek near Newcastle, Australia, Monday, March 2, 2026. (Chloe Burgess-Jones\/Australian Reptile Park via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

In this photo provided by Australian Reptile Park, its manager Billy Collett reacts as holds a freshwater crocodile caught in Ironbark Creek near Newcastle, Australia, Sunday, March 1, 2026 (Brandon Gifford\/Australian Reptile Park via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

In this photo provided by Australian Reptile Park, its manager Billy Collett holds a freshwater crocodile caught in a creek near Newcastle, aAustralia, Monday, March 2, 2026. (Chloe Burgess-Jones\/Australian Reptile Park via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

In this photo provided by Australian Reptile Park, its manager Billy Collett holds a freshwater crocodile caught in a creek near Newcastle, Australia, Monday, March 2, 2026. (Chloe Burgess-Jones\/Australian Reptile Park via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

He recognized it was an Australian freshwater crocodile, or crocodylus johnstoni, a smaller and less dangerous species than saltwater crocodiles.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re capable of inflicting a serious injury,\u201d Collett said of the smaller species.<\/p>\n

Collett\u2019s team caught the croc Sunday night 2 miles from where it was first spotted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to get him out of there because he would\u2019ve perished in winter,\u201d Collett said. It is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

The croc is healthy and will stay at the park until authorities decide where it should go permanently, Collett said. Crocs are protected under Australian law.<\/p>\n

He suspects the croc was a pet that had been released into the wild after growing too big for a fish tank or too dangerous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ROD McGUIRK MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Stephanie Kirsop didn\u2019t believe her son when he called to say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[986,3690,151354,61,60,70357,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-327067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-crocodile","10":"tag-crocodile-australia-creek","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-newcastle","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327067","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=327067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}