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Bar staff have described as "weird" and "a bit mad" the 36-year-old man who survived an attack by a crocodile two hours he was ejected from a Broome pub.
Police said the man, Michael Williams, was extremely lucky not to have been killed when he tried to sit on the 5m beast, Fatso.
The man, not a local, had scaled the fence into Malcolm Douglas' crocodile park in Cable Beach about 11pm on Monday after being kicked out of the nearby Divers Tavern.
Divers manager Mark Phillips said the man, who appeared to be drinking alone, had been refused service and was asked to leave as he was "just being weird".
"There was some concern about his behaviour - they thought he was a bit mad, acting strangely," Mr Phillips said. "From what we could gather he was flying solo."
The man was also refused service at the adjoining bottle shop.
It is unclear what he got up to in the next two hours before he scaled the fence.
Once inside the park, he climbed inside a pen and tried to feed a crocodile beer.
Having failed to get a response from that crocodile, he climbed into Fatso's pen and tried to touch him, but the crocodile turned and chomped into his calf, leaving big puncture marks.
The man dropped his torch and clambered back over the fence to safety before staggering back up the road.
Mr Phillips said staff had reported that the man re-appeared at the tavern with "pieces of his body missing", covered in blood.
"He had chunks out of legs and things like that - he was apparently quite calm when he came back to the hotel and the duty manager at the time rang the police and an ambulance for him," he said.
"When the police came he was a bit jittery and wanted to go, but the duty manager kept him there until the officers took him away."
He said the man had returned to the pub carrying a bottle of Corona, despite having also been refused service at the Divers bottle shop two hours earlier.
Mr Phillips said he met the man by sheer coincidence at Broome Hospital yesterday morning, having gone there to have a cast on a broken arm attended to.
"He had a Mohawk and was sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a hospital gown . . . he asked me for a light," he said. "I said 'how are you doing' and he said 'not too good - I wrestled a crocodile last night'. I don't think the guy is right in the head." Mr Douglas said the man was lucky it was cold and the reptile's reflexes were slow.
The crocodile, weighing about 800kg, had been trapped in the Victoria River, in the Northern Territory, about 20 years ago after continually attacking boats near Timber Creek.
"At this time of the year they don't eat much - if it had have got a good grip on him and taken him into the water, it would have been a terrible, terrible disaster," Mr Douglas said. "When a crocodile bites - it's not a clean cut like a knife. It's a crush which kills the flesh which takes months to heal and if you're not careful, gangrene can set in."
The man had surgery for severe cuts last night.
Broome Hospital operations manager Kim Darby said it was "highly unusual . . . very irregular" for the hospital to treat crocodile bites.
The man gave no explanation for his actions to police, who said inquiries into the incident were continuing.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/7581211/croc-bite-man-acted-weird/
Police said the man, Michael Williams, was extremely lucky not to have been killed when he tried to sit on the 5m beast, Fatso.
The man, not a local, had scaled the fence into Malcolm Douglas' crocodile park in Cable Beach about 11pm on Monday after being kicked out of the nearby Divers Tavern.
Divers manager Mark Phillips said the man, who appeared to be drinking alone, had been refused service and was asked to leave as he was "just being weird".
"There was some concern about his behaviour - they thought he was a bit mad, acting strangely," Mr Phillips said. "From what we could gather he was flying solo."
The man was also refused service at the adjoining bottle shop.
It is unclear what he got up to in the next two hours before he scaled the fence.
Once inside the park, he climbed inside a pen and tried to feed a crocodile beer.
Having failed to get a response from that crocodile, he climbed into Fatso's pen and tried to touch him, but the crocodile turned and chomped into his calf, leaving big puncture marks.
The man dropped his torch and clambered back over the fence to safety before staggering back up the road.
Mr Phillips said staff had reported that the man re-appeared at the tavern with "pieces of his body missing", covered in blood.
"He had chunks out of legs and things like that - he was apparently quite calm when he came back to the hotel and the duty manager at the time rang the police and an ambulance for him," he said.
"When the police came he was a bit jittery and wanted to go, but the duty manager kept him there until the officers took him away."
He said the man had returned to the pub carrying a bottle of Corona, despite having also been refused service at the Divers bottle shop two hours earlier.
Mr Phillips said he met the man by sheer coincidence at Broome Hospital yesterday morning, having gone there to have a cast on a broken arm attended to.
"He had a Mohawk and was sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a hospital gown . . . he asked me for a light," he said. "I said 'how are you doing' and he said 'not too good - I wrestled a crocodile last night'. I don't think the guy is right in the head." Mr Douglas said the man was lucky it was cold and the reptile's reflexes were slow.
The crocodile, weighing about 800kg, had been trapped in the Victoria River, in the Northern Territory, about 20 years ago after continually attacking boats near Timber Creek.
"At this time of the year they don't eat much - if it had have got a good grip on him and taken him into the water, it would have been a terrible, terrible disaster," Mr Douglas said. "When a crocodile bites - it's not a clean cut like a knife. It's a crush which kills the flesh which takes months to heal and if you're not careful, gangrene can set in."
The man had surgery for severe cuts last night.
Broome Hospital operations manager Kim Darby said it was "highly unusual . . . very irregular" for the hospital to treat crocodile bites.
The man gave no explanation for his actions to police, who said inquiries into the incident were continuing.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/7581211/croc-bite-man-acted-weird/
