April 26, 2011
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian man had to jab a crocodile in the eyes to force its jaws off his arm after it leapt from the water and bit him during a fishing trip, reports said Tuesday.
The man's hand was badly mauled in the attack on the Adelaide River, southeast of Darwin, which took place as his friend was sleeping in the back of their boat overnight Saturday, according to the Northern Territory News.
He had surgery and was recovering in hospital, the report said.
A second crocodile washed up on a Darwin beach over the weekend without a head or tail after falling victim to trophy hunters, rangers said.
"They took the head for a trophy and the tail for meat," he told ABC radio.
An average of two people are killed each year in Australia by saltwater crocodiles, known locally as "salties", which can grow up to seven metres (23 feet) long and weigh more than a tonne.
