But he can't be in a greater rush to find a croc than Vince Rose. Rose is the Crocodile expert at ACES the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary in Ladyville. Since yesterday he's been hunting the man-eater that killed 47 year old Carl Diaz, who was fishing in the area of Green Estate on Monday afternoon, when a crocodile killed him.
Vince Rose set traps yesterday and last night he had a close encounter with the ten foot beast – who seemed to have no fear of humans. He told Monica Bodden about it this evening:
Vince Rose - Crocodile Expert, ACES
"I was really close. I had him within a couple feet of me. I just couldn't get him to open his mouth to get that rope around his top jaw - we call it. It's the only croc around here. I looked at the whole area all night. This is the croc; it's probably - it's pretty aggressive. I got into the water, and it charged me, so I am pretty sure that this is the croc. And like I said, it's the only croc in this area, so, I'm just going to try again tonight, and hopefully get him tonight. Like 99.9% sure that it's a fresh water morelet's; it's not an American crocodile, and it's probably right around 9 feet, I'm gonna guess. It is probably going to be euthanized because really, we have no room for any more crocs at our facility, and I think that the Zoo is filled. So, if there is nowhere to bring him, then you can't really relocate a crocodile like that. One of my techniques is over there, that bottle, the string and the chicken, which worked great last night, he comes by, bite the chicken, goes for a swim, and then the bottle falls in, eventually, and there are glow-in-the-dark sticks in there. I can then see wherever he is swimming by just following the bottle, and that's how I got him last night. I grab the bottle, and I start pulling the croc toward me. I tried to - for like an hour I tried this; I was so close. At the end, he spit the chicken at me. So, he's got to keep the chicken in him because that string is attached to a chicken, and I can pull him right up to me. But if he spits the chicken out, I'd lose him again. So, I'm going to try that technique again tonight, but I'm also going to try and put up a couple of snares here in the water. So, if he passes through this particular canal, hopefully, he'll set off a little trigger, and two ropes will close around him."
Rose is confident that culvert traps he has put in place will be effective. As for the fate of the Ladyville man eater once he is caught – that will be up to the police.
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