Farm owner makes grisly discovery inside a dead croc’s stomach

Credit: Koorana Croc Farm

Farm owner makes grisly discovery inside a dead croc’s stomach

When it comes to bloody crocodiliacs, you know we love ‘em here in Ozzyland. You probably also know that Crocodylus porosus, our very own saltwater crocodiles are pretty bloody revered for their ability to just munch down on a bloke and swallow bits of him for breakfast. So when a dead croc from the Koorana croc farm in Rockhampton was found with a digested orthopaedic plate in its belly, people got a bit bloody curious…

Credit: Koorana Croc Farm

Rightio, for a bit of context, we’re taking you to the Koorana croc farm in Rockhampton, the generally accepted southernmost point of QLD’s croc population. As you can tell, this isn’t a wildlife reserve like you often see the Irwins talking about, this place is a farm and although it does have some displays and public areas, it’s a commercial joint that sells crocodile products.

Anyway, with all that said, when their 4.7metre male, MJ, carked it recently, they did what they always do. They opened him up to see what was in his stomach. We’ll let the farm’s owner John Lever take it from here, but although he often finds strange stuff in a croc’s belly, he’s never found anything like he did in MJ.

Credit: Koorana Croc Farm

“All the rest of the things, they’re dime a dozen, we find them every time we open up a big croc — but this was different. There’s no number, it’s only the style. It’s an old-style orthopaedic plate and it came complete with six stainless steel screws. Obviously whatever bone he’d taken in that had had the operation performed on it, had been eaten away by the crocodile’s stomach juices and just left the stainless steel plate with the six screws in it.”

Now, you don’t need to be a rocket-scientist to figure out the implications here. That orthopaedic plate came from some sort of creature that had had one fixed. The only question is whether the plate was used for veterinary purposes or…not.

Credit: Koorana Croc Farm

“We’re trying to track it down to see whether it’s one used in the veterinary industry or the medical industry,” Lever said. “But I can’t see they’re going to get anything from this plate if it’s been in a crocodile’s stomach for six years — that we know of — and probably another six to 20 [years] before that. Being subjected to the high-acidic content of a crocodile’s stomach, I’m surprised it was in such good order as it was — [it is] good stainless steel that’s for sure.”

F**KEN UPDATE!!! It’s of human origin. The crocodiliac’s taken some poor bugger at some point and had a proper nosh. FARK!!!

Lever has revealed (as we’re writing) that he’s heard back from a company in Pommyland and UK-based radiologist Phil Haslam and orthopaedic surgeon Craig Gerrand said they believed the plate was attached to a human bone. The email said, “My orthopaedic colleague is pretty sure this is a 3.5 millimetre DCP [dynamic compression plate] from AO [an international community of medical specialists in the field of musculoskeletal trauma].”

Credit: Koorana Croc Farm

Apparently, MJ was at the Johnstone River Crocodile Farm six years ago, but before that he was living wild. Lever said, “We’ve got a contact in that company who’s prepared to receive photographs and try and identify the period in which it was made. It’ll give us some idea at least and then we can link that up with people that’ve gone missing with no explanation.”

And finally, he’s mentioned that they’ve “already had two people contact us with relatives that have gone missing in north Queensland and feel there may be some connection there.”

Credit: Koorana Croc Farm

Final thought: Bloody hell, this is a pretty full-on piece of news. We guess the only thing to do is remember only to swim in pools once you get north of Rocky. Other than that, we’ll keep you posted. Bloody crocodiles, eh. They don’t f**k about.

Just in case you missed it, here’s one of Ozzy’s latest commentary videos…Ozzy Man Reviews: Soccer Cow

H/T: ABC.