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THE reckless idiots pictured have taken croc trap surfing to a dangerous new level - swimming into the cage. The image of the three drongos risking their lives and limbs surfaced yesterday after they were posted on Facebook. It is believed the picture was taken at Manton Dam - about 75km south of Darwin. The photo shows one man atop the floating metal cage - designed to capture 4m long salties. His two mates are pulling faces from inside the baited trap. It follows a series of photos - published in the Northern Territory News - which show wannabe thrillseekers...

One of Iran's most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87. Hossein Ali Montazeri was a moving spirit in the 1979 revolution which created Iran's Islamic state, and was at one stage set to become its leader. His fierce criticism of the slaughter by Khomeini in his prisons - ended in his being "banned" and theoretically "demoted". Announcing his death, the Mullah regime refused to even give him an Ayatollah title let alone his true Grand Ayatollah one, mentioning him only by his name. One of Shia Islam's most respected figures, he was also a...

IGOR has everything a self-respecting crocodile needs to be a good lover - he's big, he's strong and he's dashingly handsome. But the 4.62m saltie doesn't seem to know the difference between love-making and dinner. He killed his last two girlfriends.. And that was enough for the Darwin Crocodile Farm - Igor had to go. "I don't know why he attacked the girls...But it does happen..."

WHEN Johnie the croc wants walkies, her owner makes it snappy. Johnie - a female - rules the roost at the Lowing home. Her favourite time of the day is meal time, the Herald Sun reports. "She's just like a cat or dog in that she knows when the fridge door opens there is a good chance of a snack, so she shuffles in for a feed," Vicki Lowing said. Chicken wings are her favourite, along with whiting and red meat. Ms Lowing said her son Andrew, 15, and Johnie, 13, experienced sibling rivalry. "Sometimes Andrew goes to have a...

NORTHERN Territory police were forced to arrest a grumpy crocodile and throw it in jail after it was discovered loitering in a town. Gunbalanya police were called out recently after the 2m female saltie turned up at Arrkuluk Camp, in town, the Northern Territory News reports. Police said they found it loitering near a fence, trying to look innocent. Brevet Sergeant Adam Russell said intrigued residents had gathered around to watch the arrest - but any dreams he had of nabbing the gnasher in style were promptly voted down. "I wanted to jump on it Steve Irwin style," he said....

A U.S. tourist got more then he bargained for when he was attacked by a crocodile while attempting to answer the call of nature in the Mexican resort of Cancun this week. According to Mexican police 20-year-old Andrew Dales, from Dallas in Texas, confessed that he had been on a mission to relieve himself at the edge of the local Nicupté lagoon , in the popular tourist resort of Cancun, when the crocodile suddenly snapped at him. He suffered ‘multiple bite wounds’ to his leg and neck and was also left with a head injury after the reptile knocked him...

Known as the 'Crocodile Man', Costa Rican animal lover 'Chito' swims, plays and even feeds 'Pocho' the giant crocodile in what is one of the world's most unlikely friendships. Wading chest-deep through the green water in a 100 sq/m lake in Siquirres, this bizarre and dangerous spectacle draws tourists from around the world. Calling quietly for his five metre long 'companion' before thrashing around, lifting his tail and head above the water. 'This is a very dangerous routine but Pocho is my friend and we have a good relationship,' says 52-year-old Chito. 'He will look me in the eye and...

* Miss Universe Australia visits croc park * Gets too close to "Eric" * Monster saltie chooses her over chicken MISS Universe Australia Rachael Finch met some crocodiles during her Northern Territory visit yesterday and had to run for her life when a 5m croc named Eric lunged at her. The stunner told the Northern Territory News it was an incredible - yet scary - experience. She said it was one of the more unusual events she had been involved in since being announced winner of the pageant in April. "As soon as I saw him move I got nervous,"...

A baby crocodile caused panic on a Cairo-bound EgyptAir flight when it wriggled out of a passenger's hand luggage and wandered around the aeroplane. Passengers screamed as the wayward foot-long reptile made its way under seats and down the aisle. Crew members on the flight, which originated in Abu Dhabi, managed to corner and capture the crocodile and handed it over to authorities when the plane landed in Cairo. An airport security official said the animal, which none of the passengers claimed, would be given to Cairo's Giza zoo. Transporting exotic animals in and out of the Egypt is illegal....

A TERRITORY croc sought the safety of a bar after it was caught lurking on a verandah in Darwin's rural area. Witness Peter Donovan said the bar visitor was a "unique Territory experience". The 1m freshwater crocodile shot through the legs of Mr Donovan's son Jarred, 16, when the teen surprised the reptile at his Howard Springs home last Wednesday. It then found sanctuary behind the bar in the house's entertainment area.

The four-hour operation took place at Miami’s Metrozoo.The giant male predator, dubbed Robo Croc after the operation left it with a significant amount of metal dotted around its face, was close to death after having its head crushed by a car in the Florida Keys last year.‘Robo Croc’ the crocodile has reconstructive surgery after car accident Unable to move its jaw, the distressed animal had not eaten for three months.

Veterinarians in Miami have successfully fitted a badly injured crocodile with metal plates and 41 Frankensteinian screws on its skull. The croc had been hit by a car in the Florida Keys.

Woman Without Fear By Daniel Mannix I FIRST heard of Grace Wiley when Dr. William Mann, former direc­tor of the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., banded me a picture of a tiny woman with a gigantic king cobra draped over her shoulders like a garden hose. The snake had partly spread his hood and was looking in­tently into the camera while his mis­tress stroked his head to quiet him. Dr. Mann told me: “Grace lives in a little house full of poisonous snakes, imported from all over the world. She lets them wander around like eats. There’s been more...

HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean soccer player drowned in a crocodile infested river during a ritual to cleanse his team of bad spirits before a match, a state newspaper said on Tuesday.

Australian authorities fear an 18-foot crocodile they describe as “shy” may have taken a camper from a riverside site in North Queensland, the Australian Associated Press reported Tuesday. Arthur Booker, 62, who was on a two-day vacation with his wife, went to check a craypot at the Endeavour River Escape campsite around 8:30 a.m. He never returned. Booker’s wife told AAP that when she went to check the site she found a snapped rope, large crocodile slide marks and her husband’s new video camera.

Attempts to turn Solomon Islands into a gun-free society has had an unintended deadly side effect. It's lead in part, to an increase in the number of fatal crocodile attacks. Guns were banned on Solomon Islands following racial tensions and the arrival in 2003 of the Australian lead Regional Assistance Mission, RAMSI. Solomon Islands Acting Police Commissioner, Peter Marshall, has told Radio Australia at least six people have been killed by crocodiles in the past 18 months. "We have various reports from around the provinces in Solomon Islands... of crocodiles entering into locations where fishermen are present or where children...

Officials at the Isle of Palms ordered everyone out of the water because of a dangerous animal. But it wasn't a shark this time. Instead, wildlife officials ended up trapping a two-metre-long American crocodile in the surf ... the crocodile likely escaped or was released by someone who illegally brought it from its normal habitat in southern Florida. But Bennett says it is possible the crocodile could have swum up the coast.

The father of late television star Steve Irwin said he quit the family's Australian conservation park because he had become a "disrupting influence," although the widow of the khaki-clad "Crocodile Hunter" denies a rift in the clan. Australian media have speculated for months that Terri Irwin, the U.S.-born wife of the television host and mother of his two children, had fallen out with Bob Irwin following his son's death in a 2006 stingray attack. In brief excerpts released Thursday of Bob Irwin's first interview since he left the park earlier this year, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. he "was...

The crocodile locked its jaws around its victim's legs A woman has been rescued from the jaws of a saltwater crocodile in Australia after her husband jumped onto its back and forced it to flee. The attack took place in the Litchfield National Park near Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory. The crocodile lunged at its victim as she stood on the banks of a river, locking its jaws around her legs before trying to drag her into the water. Police have said the heroism of her husband almost certainly saved her. He leapt onto the large reptile's back, gouging...

I have just seen Hillary Clinton and her former Yale law professor both in tears at a campaign rally here in my home state of Connecticut. Her tearful professor said how proud he was that his former student was likely to become our next President. Hillary responded in tears. My own reaction was of regret that, when I terminated her employment on the Nixon impeachment staff, I had not reported her unethical practices to the appropriate bar associations. Hillary as I knew her in 1974 At the time of Watergate I had overall supervisory authority over the House Judiciary Committee's...