How to Catch a Crocodile
- Nov 21, 2014
- 2 min read
Current location: Palo Verde national park, Costa Rica
After two days of catching, tagging and releasing crocodiles I have lost much of my fear of crocodiles. My utmost respect for them remains, however. Crocodiles like fish it turns out, and they commonly find their way into the fish farms of Costa Rica. One tilapia farm has frequent hungry visitors, and in order to not go bankrupt they catch the imposters and put them into a fenced area where they can hang out until they are relocated back into the national park. Catching crocodiles it turns out is not that hard, the hard thing is to find them. For this reason me and the other researchers of the Costa Rican National University took advantage of this opportunity to draw blood and collect other data from crocs that were already found, so to speak.
HOW TO CATCH A CROCODILE:
Find it.
Tape a running loop of metal wire onto a long stick with duct tape and attach the distal end of the metal wire to a very long rope.
Slowly approach the crocodile and try to get the loop around the upper jaw of the crocodile
Jank on the metal wire and hold on for you life
Let the croc roll around until its exhausted and then pull it up to where you want it
Approach the crocodile from behind slowly and as fast as you can jump on top of it with your first priority being covering its eyes. Your second priority is to clench the neck with your knees, closing the mouth and pulling the entire head upward as much as possible.
Have another person sit on the crocs tail and to pull up the hind legs on its back.
Tie a clove hitch around the snout and finish off with another half hitch.
Cover the eyes with tape, and pull up the front legs onto its back
Put crocodile into a circular plastic tube just big enough to get the animal in.
You’re all set. Move the crocodile to desired location and don’t get bitten as you release it.
All and all it was an amazing first few days working with crocodiles, and I am growing confident in that I can actually pull this master thesis project off. Hurray for me!
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