Palmerston dog-walker shocked to find one-metre croc chilling on house lawn in Gray

A snappy surprise has left an unsuspecting man and his dog bewildered, with the small croc captured well outside of its depth. See the photos.

Palmerston resident Darren Downs was out walking his American staffy, Nate, in the suburb of Gray on April 3 when he spotted a small one metre freshwater crocodile perched up on someone’s lawn. Picture: Supplied

A snappy surprise has left an unsuspecting man and his dog bewildered, with the small croc captured well outside of its depth.

Palmerston resident Darren Downs was out walking his American Staffy, Nate, in the suburb of Gray last Thursday when he spotted a small one metre freshwater crocodile perched up on someone’s lawn.

“It was at the front of someone’s house on the corner,” Mr Downs, who was walking along Hannibal Cres at the time, said.

“I didn’t realise it, I thought that it might be a goanna or something like that.

“There’s no water or creeks around the whole area, I don’t know how it got there.”

Palmerston resident Darren Downs was out walking his American staffy, Nate, in the suburb of Gray on April 3 when he spotted a small one metre freshwater crocodile perched up on someone’s lawn. Picture: Supplied

Mr Downs said he almost could not believe his eyes when he realised what the thought-to-be goanna really was.

“It was hard to comprehend to be honest,” he said.

“You just see a crocodile sitting on the grass in Palmerston, trying to get into someone’s front yard.

“It was crazy.”

But clearly no matter how crazy his owner thought it was — goanna, lizard or croc — Nate wanted in on the action.

“The dog broke off the leash and ran straight at it,” Mr Downs said.

“He then started fighting with it; he went toe-to-toe with it.

Palmerston resident Darren Downs was out walking his American staffy, Nate, in the suburb of Gray on April 3 when he spotted a small one metre freshwater crocodile perched up on someone’s lawn. Picture: Supplied

“I kept yelling at him to get over to me … if anyone looked out of their windows they would’ve been thinking ‘Who the hell is this crackhead yelling at his dog?’ because the croc was so low to the ground.”

Fortunately, Nate was left mostly unscathed, suffering only a little nip to his leg.

“I think it might have scared the shit out of him, though,” he said.

“He usually goes for the lizards in the backyard, but this was obviously a lot bigger and more snappy.”

After about 15 minutes of waiting, park rangers arrived and captured the croc.

“The rangers thought it might have been something to do with the all the rain we’ve been having; he may have come through a drain somewhere,” he said.

Originally published as Palmerston dog-walker shocked to find one-metre croc chilling on house lawn in Gray