Fisher man fights ‘giant’ crocodile with pocket knife at riverbank to escape death

A fisherman, 60 years old, engaged in a death or alive fight with a large crocodile at a river bank in Australia. The man escaped death from the large crocodile by stabbing the reptile several times on its head with his pocketknife while the crocodile was drawing him into a river.

It was observed that the crocodile may have been targeting a bull at the riverbank which the fisherman drove away to fish in the river. The man, then, took the place of the bull, leading to the reptile pouncing on him.

Australian Wildlife officers expressed that the man was “lucky to be alive” after the attack at a remote riverbank in Australia’s far northern Cape York Peninsula.

Matt Brien of the Queensland State environment department narrated, “There was a struggle and he, fortunately, escaped the grip of a four to four-and-a-half-meter crocodile. The odds of doing that are about zero.”

It was highlighted that the man went fishing on his property last week near Hope Vale, about five hours’ drive from Cairns. He had driven away a bull from the riverbank so he could take over the space for fishing. After the bull, the crocodile attacked.

According to the narrative of the environment department: “He described seeing the crocodile seconds before it lunged at him, knocking him over as he was about to cast his fishing rod.

“The man grabbed onto the branch of a mangrove tree in a desperate attempt to stay out of the river as the crocodile’s jaws clamped around his boots. But he quickly lost the tug-of-war and was pulled in.

“The man said that as he entered the water, he managed to retrieve his knife from his belt and stabbed the crocodile in its head until it let him go.”

The man, then, scrambled up the bank to escape the predator.

After emergency treatment at Cooktown Hospital, he was later flown to Cairns Hospital where he was still recovering a week later.

A health department spokeswoman said he was in a “stable” condition.

Wildlife officers who interviewed the man Tuesday confirmed that his injuries were consistent with a crocodile attack.

“It appears that the crocodile was targeting the bull or the cow at the time, and he’s just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Brien had said.