Aboriginal activist and ceremonial leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu feeds a crocodile at Port Bradshaw in the Northern Territory. Picture: Eve Peter Source: The Daily Telegraph
THE 4m crocodile suspected to have taken a nine-year-old boy in East Arnhem Land was being fed by the community, police and locals said.
The tragedy at the Dhania outstation has not come as a surprise in the town of nearby Nhulunbuy. Several locals said it had been a disaster waiting to happen.
"It was just a matter of time before someone got taken," one local resident said.
The boy was attacked while swimming with other children just in front of the outstation about midday on Saturday. Sergeant Alex Brennan said the community, which sits by Port Bradshaw and is home to indigenous leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu, was distraught.
He said the crocodile believed to be responsible was about 4m long and was "known" to the families living at Dhania, about 100km south of Nhulunbuy.
"It's believed that the community from time to time fed the croc - it's believed to be an older croc," he said.
Search parties - consisting of Nhulunbuy and Darwin police, Parks and Wildlife and rangers - were last night preparing for a third day of combing the waters. Sgt Brennan said there were up to eight saltwater crocodiles living in the search area and the suspected killer was sighted several times by search parties on the first day.Adults tried to save the child by spearing the crocodile, but it dragged the boy out into deeper water.
