To have your arm crushed between the powerful jaws of one of nature’s most ferocious reptiles is one thing; to be shot during the same incident could be considered especially unlucky.

Even so, the actions of a quickthinking colleague probably saved the life of Jason Green, an Australian crocodile farm worker who was attacked after disturbing an angry female protecting her nest. Rushing to his aid, his co-worker, Zac Fitzgerald, shot the animal, which let go — but then he accidentally hit Mr Green with a second shot.

Mr Green is recuperating in hospital after undergoing surgery for twin wounds from man and beast, while Mr Fitzgerald, 27, is being hailed a hero after the incident, about 75 miles (120km) east of Darwin, Northern Territory.

The men were collecting eggs from a grassy mound in a river late in the afternoon and had almost finished emptying a nest when the mother, estimated at 3m long, rushed out of the water and sank its teeth into Mr Green’s right arm.

Mr Fitzgerald shot at the saltwater crocodile, which promptly let go, but his next shot hit Mr Green in the same arm.

Fortunately, a helicopter that had been used to transport the men to the remote swampy territory was still nearby and Mr Green was transported to Royal Darwin Hospital 25 minutes after the attack.

Mick Burns, the manager of the Darwin Crocodile Farm, said that Mr Green was in good spirits but faced an operation to repair his right elbow, shattered by the round from the .357 revolver. He also has a broken arm from the crocodile bite and tissue damage.

“His first words to me were, ‘I don’t think I’ll be at work for a couple of days’,” Mr Burns said. “But he’s doing a lot better than what I thought he would have been, for what he’s gone through.” He said that the crocodile survived the incident and was back guarding the nest yesterday, when he went to look. “She’s a good-size girl. She only sort of poked her nose out at me.”

He said there was no doubt that Mr Fitzgerald’s swift action saved Mr Green’s life: “Jason said to me, ‘Thank God he’s a good shot’. He said the croc was thrashing about very violently.”

Collecting eggs was highly dangerous, he said, but added that the two men were among the most experienced at his commercial crocodile farm, which exports 12,000 skins to Europe each year to be turned into handbags for brands such as Hermès.

“We take all the precautions we can but crocodiles are wild animals,” he said. “We have been collecting eggs since the 1970s and you don’t get a lot of attacks. These things don’t happen very often but unfortunately it did happen today.”

The farm is a commercial producer of saltwater crocodiles for meat and skins, which are coveted for their small, even, belly scales that are unique to each animal. It harvests its own eggs and also collects specimens from the wild, in partnership with traditional indigenous owners of the land.

Saltwater crocodiles in northern Australia nest primarily during the wet season between late October and April. A female lays only one clutch of eggs in a nesting season, with an average of 50 eggs.

JAWS OF FATE

October 2002 A German tourist was killed by a 4.2 metre (14ft) crocodile during a midnight swim in the Kakadu National Park

September 2005 Russell Harris, 37, from Nottingham, was killed by a crocodile in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory

July 2006 An eight-year-old girl was fatally attacked while swimming on the Blythe river, 250 miles (400km) east of Darwin

January 2007 Kerry York, 27, had a lucky escape after being bitten on the neck, chest and left arm by a 2m crocodile while swimming in a river near Kununurra.

Days later a policeman, Jeff Tanswell, 37, survived an attack off Thursday Island, near Queensland

Sources: Times Archive, http://www.police.qld.gov.au

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