Giant Salt River croc healthy but exhausted, says biologist

The ease with which, based on amateur video footage, the 12-foot male crocodile was seemingly removed from the water, has even led some persons to assume that the reptile was sick.

But according to wildlife expert Damion Whyte, the animal was in excellent health and seems to be co-operating with the rescue team only because of exhaustion.

Responding to queries by Old Harbour News regarding the nuances that goes into capturing such a massive croc such as this one, and safety measures adopted to protect themselves and the animal simultaneously, Whyte a popular local biologist gave this explanation.

“Every different crocodile have different temperament. Like human beings you have some that’s craas (gets angry easily) and you have some that’s not too craas (can be docile). But the thing is that the animal was underwater for some time and people were chasing it. So it was a little bit exhausted,” says Whyte a terrestrial biologists who has gained national acclaimed through his personal social media blogs to educate Jamaicans about creatures in the wild on the island.

Salt River is a popular public attraction chill spot for many locals near and far, but is also a natural wetland area, a habitat for many animals such as crocodiles. Due to human activity crocodiles are rarely seen in this area where the water is crystal clear and people frolic and enjoy themselves. Except in a few instances some crocodiles venture into that particular zone and have difficulty finding their way back out, Whyte noted.

However, there is a noticeable trend that could start attract more crocs to that zone, Whyte argued – the poor disposal of food consumed by visitors and vendors.

In one of the videos the crocodile captured seemed quite unperturbed despite the high level of human activity in the water on the day. But Whyte says in that moment the animal “was trying to blend in thinking that you don’t see him”.

“But you notice is when they touch after him he moved,” he added. “The second thing is that we are asking persons to stop scrape the fish and put the gut in the water. Crocodiles are predators and they can smell the fish gut and the chicken skin.”

The Roosters World vlogger also sighted as a possibility that in this particular instance the crocodile “got lost” – made even more difficult as persons descended at the location earlier than usual and in large droves.

“He was exhausted and confused. He wasn’t sick or anything and when we examined him, he was a healthy crocodile,” Whyte told Old Harbour News, adding that the crocodile was later released back into the while in a wetland area far from where it was captured.

“We took it out on a boat and release it,” he said.

Whyte was among a team of representatives from the Caribbean Coastal Area Management (C-CAM) that responded to the call after an alarm was raised that a crocodile was in the water.

While many persons made a hasty retreat out of the water, some even leaving the entire location all the together, others took on the task to get rid the creature despite their limited experience. 

Once the wildlife experts arrived on location with the assistance of the police the croc was subdued and safely removed.