Indonesian crocodile freed from tire stuck around its neck for 6 years
The croc would have eventually grown so large the tire would strangle the creature, says Forrest Galante
An Indonesian bird catcher has freed a crocodile from the motorcycle tire the reptile wore around its neck for six years.
Tili, who goes by a single name, and two of his friends trapped the roughly four-metre-long saltwater crocodile and sawed the tire off its neck on Monday in Palu, a city on Indonesia's Sulawesi island.
"It was a wonderful coming together of the people of Palu to see this iconic creature get freed," outdoor adventurer and TV presenter Forrest Galante told As It Happens host Carol Off.
Wildlife wranglers from all over the world have attempted to free the crocodile, which was later identified by the Associated Press as a female, since it was first spotted in 2016. In 2020, local conservation officials even offered an unspecified reward for anyone who could accomplish this feat.
Galante had attempted the rescue himself without success in 2020, and watched a livestream of Monday's rescue.
"Once caught, [she] was sort of tied up, as you have to do with a crocodile, bind their legs and tail. And of course, closed their jaws," he said. "And then they went to work. They put a PVC pipe underneath the tire and they grabbed a hacksaw and started sawing away until it popped off."
Tili, 35, set up a trap with live bait to lure the crocodile in. After three weeks of waiting and several failed attempts, the crocodile finally fell into the trap Monday night.
A crocodile in Indonesia that had a motorcycle tire stuck around its neck for six years was finally freed by a self-taught reptile rescuer <a href="https://t.co/iHoBx4IgE4">pic.twitter.com/iHoBx4IgE4</a>
—@Reuters"Many people were sceptical about me and thought I was not serious," Tili told Reuters.
Once the tire was taken off the crocodile, Galante said the reptile wriggled back into the river, "seeming very sort of unprovoked or uninterested in the fact that he's just had this crazy alien-like experience."
Past rescue attempts failed
Bad luck and the COVID-19 pandemic got in the way of Galante's rescue attempt in the spring of 2020.
The outdoor adventurer said he and his crew spotted the crocodile just hours after landing in Palu, but could not proceed with the rescue attempt until they got approval from the local authorities.
"We sat there and watched this croc from about 15 feet away for close to an hour before he lazily slinked back into the river. And I was like, 'Oh my God, I'll never get another opportunity like that.'"
A few days after that, the team was told to cease its operations because of the pandemic. Shortly after, they had to leave Indonesia. "I got on the very last flight out of Palu, that to this day has not reopened [to international travel]," Galante said.
'He would have died'
Galante said that although it seemed that the crocodile was not yet in grave danger from the tire, it was only a matter of time until the reptile outgrew its rubber necklace.
"Eventually, whether it was a month from now or a year from now, five years from now, he would have gotten so big that the tire would have begun to asphyxiate him and restrict him taking food in, and he would have died."
Seeing that Tili was able to wedge a tool underneath the tire to get it off the crocodile meant the rescue was well-timed.
"There was still some wiggle room there, and I didn't notice any really bad scarring or any bad tissue damage around the neck after the tire came off," Galante said.
Written by Olsy Sorokina with files from Reuters and The Associated Press. Interview with Forrest Galante produced by Kate McGillivray.
