Tradie photographed riding massive crocodile

A tradie caught surfing a massive saltwater crocodile is in hot water with PETA after the animal rights organisation caught wind.

A crazy tradie has been photographed surfing a massive crocodile in the river after the mammoth beast was spotted floating next to his boat.

The barefoot man, wearing a high-vis top, had managed to tie a rope around the crocodile’s top jaw and was using that thin rope to balance himself.

His friends could be seen in the photo, floating nearby in the small tinnie.

Most laughed off the foolish stunt — but animal rights organisation PETA slammed the man, saying he was “looking for attention”.

“If this stunt is the ‘most Aussie thing ever’, we should be ashamed,” PETA spokeswoman Emily Rice said.

“Animals are not surfboards, and we should no more be applauding a person who ‘surfs’ on a crocodile than we should applaud jockeys who whip horses or marine park trainers who torment dolphins.

“Already in Australia, crocodiles are exploited as tourist spectacles, their nests are raided for eggs so that their babies can be raised on filthy factory farms, and they’re mercilessly slaughtered so that foreign fashion houses can turn their skins into handbags.

“Native wildlife habitats are already under threat, thanks to human lust for animal flesh and the dire environmental effects of animal agriculture.

“The last thing Australian animals need is also to be stood on by grown men looking for attention.”

The tradie on top of the crocodile. Picture: Reddit

The photo went viral on Reddit, with dozens of commenters joking about the insane Australian picture.

“This is why I want girls. I feel like boys are harder to keep alive,” one joked.

“Glad he was wearing hi vis.. you know for safety,” another said.

“You know for sure that the last thing he said was ‘Hold my beer’,” a third added.

“This guy takes the Australian surfer cliche to a whole ‘nother level,” another commented.

While most laughed off the wild antics, others said the man was lucky to be alive.

“Mate there are way easier ways to off yourself if you have a death wish, just saying,” one said.

The photo comes less than a month after an enormous crocodile launched itself into a fishing boat in the Northern Territory, injuring one of the people inside.

Rangers have spent the past month combing the waterways at Kakdu National Park to try and find the crocodile that was behind the April 24 attack.

NT Health said a 32-year-old man from Wollongong in NSW was injured after the crocodile, believed to be around 5m long, flung itself out of the water and into their boat.

“He was fishing on the South Alligator River with three friends in a boat on the night of April 24,” a spokesman for the department said.

“A crocodile launched into the boat, attacking his seat and injuring the man.”

The group of fishermen had stopped on the river to cook dinner on-board the boat when the shocking attack occurred.

The man was lucky to escape with minor injuries, including a graze to the side of his body.

There have reportedly been six crocodile attacks in Australia this year, the most since 2017.