Grisly discovery as two crocodiles found dead in Adelaide River
Members of the public have made a horrifying discovery at a remote Northern Territory town - two large dead crocodiles with suspected bullet wounds.
The Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife crocodile management team were notified on Wednesday about two of the huge reptiles believed to have been illegally shot.
A Facebook page for the organisation said in a post that an investigation would be established in a bid to find the cruel culprits.
“Our crocodile management team has been notified about two crocodiles illegally shot and killed on the Adelaide River and will be investigating the situation,” the post read.
The page said the offenders could face a fine up to $77,500 or five years behind bars.
Social media users were urged to contact Parks and Wildlife if they knew of or had suspicions about who might be responsible.
Photos shared to the page showed the bodies of the two reptiles, one of their bodies was pictured with a bullet wound piecing through scales on its under side.
The other was shown floating in shallow water of the Adelaide River.
A senior ranger told Yahoo News Australia that officers were yet to make their own way to the crocs because the tide was too low to get there by boat.
A team planned to set out on Thursday however, with the task of finding the two dead crocodiles and confirming their cause of death.
The ranger said the animals were “not huge” so were likely not that old, but it was hard to tell too much about them without seeing them in the flesh.
“This kind of thing happens occasionally because people trophy hunt them,” they said.
He added that rangers were not entirely sure the crocodiles were victims of shooting, but photos indicated there was foul play involved in their death.
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