Darwin man's bizarre animal rescues from the sea
Finding odd things in the waters off Darwin seems a regular occurrence for Rick Trippe.
Two weeks ago Trippe rescued a horse that was swimming desperately through waters home to many sharks and crocodiles after it fell in the harbor.
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It was an arduous rescue mission, the Territorian told Yahoo7, as he concentrated on not hitting the stricken beast with his boat.
"I had to keep checking the motor, then checking the horse," he said, filming the operation with swimmers on the other side guiding the horse in to shore.
"One of my greatest fears when I'm doing diving is being hit by a speedboat," he said, not wanting to do the same to the horse.
As well as a horse, Trippe managed to save a highly venomous snake and equally venomous stonefish from killing each other – albeit fleeting.
An auctioneer and avid spear fisherman, Trippe came across the creatures locked in battle on Thursday as he dove near World War II wreck.
Trippe separated the pair and snapped a few choice action shots at the same time, which have since been shared across the globe.
"The fish was going to die. 100 percent," Trippe said.
At first he was not able to make out what was going on in the water, but then he swam in closer to see the "snake has the fish in the tail section".
"I'm used to handling snakes," he said, regularly snatching them out of his chicken coop. He's grabbed a few stonefish in his time too for a mate's aquarium.
"I grab hold of the snake behind the jaws and separate them," the proud animal lover said, hearing the fish let out a mighty groan.
He put the creatures back in the sea, only for the snake to make a second go at the fish.
Trippe was certain the stonefish would die, however the sea snake might have lived to fight another day.
While the snake would have injected venom through its fangs, stonefish poison travels through barbs on the animal's back. And just like Trippe, the snake might have avoided being nicked.
News break - September 1
