A 12-year-old girl has escaped with minor injuries after being attacked by a Saltwater Crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, while collecting water plants for a Fish tank in a creek to the south of Darwin on Thursday 16 March 2023. The girl was treated at the Palmerston Regional Hospital in Darwin, before being discharged, while the Crocodile was captured in a trap set by park rangers and will be relocated. A spokesperson for the Northern Territory Crocodile Management Team has stated that the girl was extremely lucky not to have received more serious injuries as the Crocodile was about 2.2 m in length, large enough to inflict significant injuries on an adult Human. Water levels are currently high in the Northern Territory, due to the annual rainy season, and Crocodiles are able to enter many waterways which are to shallow to offer them good cover at other times of year. Rangers have removed about 70 Crocodiles from such waterways so far this year, compared to a total of 273 removed in 2022.
Crocodile attacks on Humans are relatively rare, but they are opportunistic ambush predators and will potentially attack anything going close to the water. Saltwater Crocodiles have a particularly poor reputation for such behaviour, being the largest species of Crocodile and notoriously aggressive. These Crocodiles are one of the few Crocodile species not considered vulnerable to extinction, being found from India to Australia and inhabiting many areas that Humans shun, such as Mangrove forests and islands without fresh water.
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