DARWIN Wildlife rangers have trapped a 4.4-meter (14.5-foot) saltwater crocodile at a tourist destination in Australias Northern Territory, the biggest caught in the area in years, a wildlife ranger said Monday.
The 350-kilogram (770-pound) male was caught in the Flora River at a remote nature park 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the Outback town of Katherine, said Katherine senior wildlife ranger John Burke.
A larger 4.7-meter (15.5-foot) croc was trapped three years ago in the same wildlife management zone, but that one was caught in the Katherine River, which is closer to the sea, Burke said.
He said he did not know of a larger croc caught in the Flora River.
Crocodile numbers have been increasing across Australias tropical north since federal law made them a protected species in the early 1970s.