Wildlife Rescue
Success Stories
Crocodile Rescue in East Timor
The people of East Timor regard crocodiles as sacred, and believe that their island home is actually a solidified crocodile. What a bonus for this modern-day dinosaur, and what an excellent environment for the International Crocodile Rescue unit – extremely conducive to the success of their rescue mission and education goals.
Both of the crocodiles were held in appalling conditions, however bringing them back to Australia was not an option due to their sacred status in East Timor. Steve and his family believe that one should always endeavour to promote and uphold the beliefs and traditions of the local people, especially with regard to their sacred animals. Steve’s mission was to maintain the Timorese passion for these animals, save the crocodiles and make sure they were maintained in a happy, healthy state for the rest of their lives – which could be up to 80 years.
Steve’s solution was to build new, spacious, state-of-the-art enclosures for the crocs, and to empower the local people to continue caring for these animals successfully. It took Steve and his team ten days of extremely hard work in the stormy tropics to build the enclosures; however the difficult part was the actual relocation of these two crocodiles, Anthony and Maxine.
The entire event was a huge success, with Anthony and Maxine safely relocated to their new enclosures, ready to live out their lives in complete safety, comfort and harmony with the local people. The team still travel to and from East Timor promoting crocodile education and husbandry, and ensuring the maintenance of these awesome crocodiles.
Click here for the full details of this amazing rescue mission.
