An Australian cattle farmer is set to leave hospital nearly a month after he got bitten by a crocodile – and escaped by biting back.
Colin Deveraux, who is in his mid-60s, was walking toward a river in northern Australia to take care of some fencing when he saw fish clustering in a billabong, a pond left behind when the river changes course or floodwaters ebb.
Realising there was something else in the water besides the fish, he abandoned his idea of catching some and turned to leave.
“The water had receded, and it was down to this dirty water in the middle,” Deveraux told Australian broadcaster ABC. “I took two steps and the dirty b*****d latched onto my right foot.”
A fight for his life ensued.
“It was a big grab, and he shook me like a rag doll and took off back into the water, pulling me in,” Deveraux recounted.
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Over 70 crocodiles escape as heavy rains hit southern China
Over 70 crocodiles escape as heavy rains hit southern China
He tried biting and kicking, to no avail until he chomped down on the only remotely vulnerable spot on the beast – its eyelid.
“I was in such an awkward position,” Deveraux said. “But by accident my teeth caught his eyelid. It was pretty thick, like holding onto leather, but I jerked back on his eyelid and he let go.”
The whole thing took “about eight seconds, I reckon”, he said.
Deveraux freed himself and ran to the car, the croc in pursuit for a few feet. Then he used a towel and some rope as a tourniquet and his brother drove him to the hospital, where he has been ever since the mid-October attack.
The wounds were deep and full of bacteria, both from the water and the croc’s mouth.
By November, though, he’d had had a skin graft and could feel his toes and was due to walk out of the hospital this week, ABC reported.