Indonesian Crocodile Stuck in Motorcycle Tire Finally Freed After 6 Years

Residents of Palu, Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia were finally able to remove a used tire stuck in a wild crocodile's neck for six years.

The 'elusive' Indonesian crocodile was finally freed after six years since it swam over a motorcycle tire, with the help of animal lovers on the island of Sulawesi. Luckily, the 13-foot beast didn't grow big enough to eventually choke on the rubber.

According to the locals, it had been very difficult to capture the reptile, thus the very long while to finally make it free.

"I caught the crocodile by myself. I was asking for help from people here, but they were scared," a local resident named Tili, 35 years old, told CNN. People in the island said that at some point, an Australian crocodile wrangler attempted to free the Palu river reptile, but did not succeed.

Reward to remove tire from the croc's neck

The Indonesian province launched a contest in 2020 to free the crocodile as an effort to help it before it gets strangled. Since 2016, the wild croc roamed the Palu river with a tire on its neck, even surviving past the 2018 earthquake and tsunami, CNN reported two years ago.

"A reward will be given to anyone who can release the hapless reptile," Central Sulawesi BKSDA chief Hasmuni Hasmar told the Antara news agency.

Two years later, the "hapless reptile" had finally been released by Tili who captured it, but he said the reward was not his main motivation. "I just can't stand to see animals hurt. Even snakes, I will help," said the self-taught wild expert.

Tili used duck and chicken as bait and set up a basic trap with a rope tied to a log. After three weeks of tracking the wily crocodile, which managed to escape the trap twice, it was finally captured.

"Many people were skeptical about me and thought I was not serious about capturing the crocodile," said Tili as he poses next to the tethered reptile for pictures before it was released back into the river on Monday evening.

"Buaya kalung ban" - Crocodile with a tire necklace

The local people had referred to the reptile as "buaya kalung ban" or the crocodile with a tire necklace. Many believed that the 'buaya' is a critically endangered Siamese crocodile, but fated to live a long life after surviving the tsunami and earthquake that had struck Central Sulawesi's capital city, Palu, in 2018, with a tire lodged around its neck.

Of course, there had been several attempts to capture and free the animal. Before the disasters, in January 2018, conservationist and famous animal whisperer Muhammad Panji or Panji Petualang (Panji, the Adventurer), had attempted to remove the tire from the crocodile's neck but to no avail.

During the same year, the conservation office itself attempted to lure the crocodile using chicken and meat as bait, but failed to draw the reptile's interest, according to Antara.