Live in Townsville and have a few surplus full-size chickens swanning about the backyard? A very old crocodile could probably use them right about now.
The Billabong Sanctuary, on the southern outskirts of T-ville, took in a big ole’ boy by the name of Juniper back in March of last year. At the time, the big beast was in a fair spot of bother; he had one eye missing, had lost most of his teeth, was pretty cut up and scarred, and was remarkably thin for a croc. After assessing his condition, rangers estimated the big mahn’s age to be somewhere in the vicinity of 70-80 years old. Subsequent re-assessments have put him more at a sprightly 50-odd. He was just in real crook shape when he came in, as it turns out.
Seemingly against all odds, Juniper is recovering. 10 months into his stay at the sanctuary and he’s beginning to grow new teeth. His energy is reportedly back up and his appetite is returning.
And therein lies the problem.
It’s a big bloody appetite.
Juniper, who measures some 4.3 metres long, is still a whopping 150kg UNDERweight, and handlers are now turning to the local community for food donations. And this isn’t just your standard canned food drive, either. Park Rangers are specifically after elderly or unwanted chickens that anyone might own.
It sounds grisly, but there’s method to the madness. Park curator Brad Cooper explains it thusly:
“Those whole chickens are really important because they have got all the feathers and entrails and all the good stuff which have all the vitamins and minerals that we think he needs.”
And before you alert PETA, here’s some reassurance:
“It is absolutely against the law to be feeding anything live, so they are put to sleep in the most humane way.”
Rangers are at pains to stress that the killing of animals for food purposes is tightly regulated and monitored, and is attended to by park governing bodies and veterinarians.
With enough donations from the area, park rangers hope that Juniper can regain the 150kg in bodyweight by this time next year, which would make him the 2nd largest croc in the park.
He might’ve missed a few dinners, but with any luck he won’t have to miss many more.
Good onya, ya big old boy.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Billabong Sanctuary/Facebook.
