That’s a new tip to add to your crocodile survival guide. Not literally.
Reporting from the ‘land down-under,’ Australia’s ABC News reports a case via People that Colin Deveraux, a cattle producer, had been attacked by a crocodile while heading toward the Finniss River to do some fencing. The first clue he picked up was when the fish were acting oddly and swimming toward the middle of the pool of water. Devaraux told the news outlet, “The water had receded and it was down to this dirty water in the middle. I took two steps and [the crocodile] latched onto my right foot,” adding, “It was a big grab and he shook me like a rag doll and took off back into the water, pulling me in.”
Here is where survives are built. Devaraux recalled the incident, saying he did not let the crocodile take him into the waters and fought back. People reported, via his interview with ABC News, that he began kicking the crocodile’s ribs with his other foot, which was free. Then, he developed an offensive strategy where he bit the wild animal. Here is how he recalled the heart-racing incident.
“I was in such an awkward position … but my teeth accidentally caught his eyelid. It was pretty thick, like holding onto leather, but I jerked back on his eyelid and he let go.” This was the escape route for Devaraux, and he took the chance by fleeting off towards where his car was parked, with the crocodile closing up to his ranks. He recalls saying that it tailed him for 13 feet or so and then stopped. Devaraux said that the whole fiasco took place within eight seconds, making him an avid flight-or-fight strategist.
People reported via the news outlet that even though Deveraux had managed to survive the attack, he had a more pressing problem to address: his open leg wound where the crocodile had bitten him. He reiterated to the news outlet that he managed to suppress the bleeding by building a makeshift tourniquet out of using a towel and some rope. Per BBC, acquired via People, his brother managed to get him to Royal Darwin Hospital, located 80 miles north of where he was.
Deveraux said that the biggest problem with the wound was that it was infected with “all the bad bacteria” from the murky waters where the crocodile rose from. He continued, “[My leg] was opened up [badly] and over ten days in a row, I think, they had to flush it.” He added saying, “If [the crocodile] had bitten me somewhere else, it would have been different.”
People reported that the crocodile had been removed from the swamp ever since the attack, but it gave Deveraux a fresh new perspective, which he confirmed by saying, “It means I’ve got to change what I do. I’ve been walking around that swamp country too long fixing fences and living life, but it’s opened my eyes.”