{"id":309756,"date":"2026-03-02T19:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309756\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T19:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:06:08","slug":"crocodile-captured-after-being-found-in-pond-behind-bunnings-store-in-newcastle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309756\/","title":{"rendered":"Crocodile captured after being found in pond behind Bunnings store in Newcastle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A baby <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/crocodile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"crocodile\">crocodile<\/a> has been captured after swimming in a creek behind a Bunnings Warehouse in Newcastle for two days.<\/p>\n<p>The crocodile&#8217;s presence behind the store in Wallsend in Newcastle&#8217;s west was first reported on Saturday afternoon, with police called to a creek at Federal Park at around 4.30pm.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>Once the crocodile was spotted in the water, police formed a perimeter to stop the crocodile from escaping and to prevent people from going too close to it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/a8c543cc-ec93-4e3d-a2c4-d88b55d1f68e.jpeg\"   alt=\"The crocodile was captured around three kilometres from where it was first spotted. Freshwater crocodiles are not usually found in New South Wales.\"\/>The crocodile was captured around three kilometres from where it was first spotted. Freshwater crocodiles are not usually found in New South Wales. (Facebook\/Australian Reptile Park)<\/p>\n<p>The crocodile was identified as a freshwater crocodile, which is not native to New South Wales, instead being found in northern Australia.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>The crocodile was initially spotted around three kilometres from the creek, before making its way to the park behind the Bunnings store.<\/p>\n<p>Despite animal handling specialists from the Australian Reptile Park arriving on scene that night, they were unable to capture it.<\/p>\n<p>They returned the next day and were able to successfully capture the crocodile.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With murky water this wasn&#8217;t a simple job but our team,&#8221; the Australian Reptile Park said in a post on Facebook.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our team&#8230; worked across the weekend to safely secure the little croc.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/43f09aaf-cd98-4973-833b-b4d4ebbd70f7.jpeg\"   alt=\"The young croc has been taken to the Australian Reptile Park, where it is being checked and cared for by a vet team.\"\/>The young croc has been taken to the Australian Reptile Park, where it is being checked and cared for by a vet team. (Facebook\/Australian Reptile Park)<\/p>\n<p>Despite initial reports of more crocodiles in the area, police confirmed there had been no further sightings.<\/p>\n<p>There were no reported injuries, and the young croc has been taken to the Australian Reptile Park for further checks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The croc has now been safely transported to the Australian Reptile Park,&#8221; the Facebook post said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;\ufeffOur veterinary team is giving it a full health check and making sure it&#8217;s getting the proper care it needs.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A baby crocodile has been captured after swimming in a creek behind a Bunnings Warehouse in Newcastle for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-309756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}