Colin Deveraux is an Australian cattle farmer. Recently, a man experienced an encounter he had never dreamed of in his worst nightmares. The man survived the crocodile attack. He managed to free himself only because he bit the reptile himself in retaliation.
Shortly before the incident, the 60-year-old was working near the Finniss River in the Northern Territory. He stopped to check out the oxbow lake. The man saw several fish and decided to catch one. Suddenly he realized there was something else in the water. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to escape.
“I took two steps and the bastard grabbed my right foot,” Deveraux said in an interview with the Australian ABC station. – That was a strong hold. The crocodile shook me like a rag doll, then jumped back into the water about three meters and dragged me, he said.
According to Deveraux, he managed to kick the crocodile. The man then fell so that his head was right next to the animal’s mouth. He decided to act in a rather unconventional way.
“I managed to bite him,” he said. The man’s teeth came together in the struggle and he finally hit the crocodile’s eyelid. – I tugged on it and after about a second [gad – red.] he let go, said Deveraux. At that moment he broke into a run and started running away. He added that the crocodile “chased him for probably three or four meters, but then stopped.”
A month in hospital
Deveraux stopped the bleeding with a rope and later went to the hospital. Diagnosis? Damaged tendons and two large cuts along the entire length of the foot. Doctors also had to clean and disinfect the wound to remove mud and bacteria. The wound was treated with staples and a skin graft from the leg above the knee. Despite initial difficulties, his condition is now good.
– I can bend my toes, I have feeling in all my toes […] This all happened in about eight seconds. “I think if he had bitten me somewhere else, the situation would have been worse,” he added.
Deveraux admitted in a conversation with journalists that he should not venture into dangerous areas. This week, the man is finally scheduled to end his month-long hospital stay.
Saltwater crocodiles can reach up to six meters in length and weigh a ton. Deveraux may be a true blessing in disguise, as the individual who attacked him was half his size.
Main photo source: Shutterstock