Croc Wrangler Matt Wright puts hold on michelin croc extraction mission

CROC Wrangler Matt Wright has an update on his mission to rescue a crocodile strangled by a tyre in Indonesia, with plans revealed for what he’ll do next

NT Croc Wrangler Matt Wright will returned home from Indonesia, unsuccessful from his first attempt to remove a motorcycle tyre from a crocodile but plans to return in May to finish the job. (Photo by NANANG / AFP)

CROC Wrangler Matt Wright’s mission to rescue a crocodile being strangled by a tyre in Indonesia has been put on hold.

The Croc Wrangler said not only had his team done what they could to try and help but the croc itself was struggling with all the human attention.

MORE STORIES

TRAIN jumpers closed tracks, as cops searched for missing group

FOCUS on staff, as NT Police deputy commissioners to receive two assistants each under restructure

FAMILIAR faces and fresh throw their hats in the ring for vacant Darwin councillor job

“We’ve got an update and it’s not really the update we were looking for but we’ve spent quite a lot of time on the water and have exhausted this crocodile as far as trying to catch him and

we went out last night and didn’t even sight him so we’re going to give it a little rest for a couple of months,” he told his followers through an Instagram post.

“He’s had two weeks of people trying to catch him, he’s sick of it, he’s over it, he’s stressing, he just wants to lay there, sunbake and just enjoy it.

“We’re going to come back in May and the BKSDA (Conservation of Natural Resources) are going to monitor him, keep an eye on him and start getting him used to humans again.”

Mr Wright said given there was no immediate danger to the crocodile he and his team had time to come back home and work out the best way forward.

“He's not in any danger with that tyre around his neck in the short term so we’re going to go back to Australia and collaborate with some more people back there on new designs, new technologies to catch this croc,” he said.

“He definitely is one of the hardest crocs we’ve come across and we’re not going to stop until we succeed, we’ve got such a good team over here, everyone’s been doing such a good job.

“What a great little mission we’ve started and we’re gonna keep on this mission and catch this crocodile.”

NT NEWS special half price subscription deal: Just $3.50 a week

Mr Wright also thanked his team based in Indonesia who had been working through the night, looking after him all around the clock.