# alligator south coast nsw



## GSXR_Boy (Dec 30, 2008)

*Published:* 
*Source: msn*
Video of it on here:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/704980/camper-tells-of-crocodile-shock 

*A snake handler holidaying on the NSW far south coast has told of his battle with an alligator found tens of thousands of kilometres away from its natural habitat. *
Hans Rusker was opening the gate to the Noonameena campsite at Pambula at around 5pm yesterday when the property's caretaker rushed out to tell him of the bizarre discovery — not realising at the time just how foreign the intruder was. 
"I asked him if it might be a goanna but he said 'no, it's a crocodile'," Mr Rusker told ninemsn. 
"When we went in there, it was pretty quiet: the caretaker was feeding it pilchards and it seemed pretty relaxed. 
"But when we ran out of food, the croc apparently got bored and started walking into the bush." 
The men realised they couldn't let the 1.5m-long reptile escape back into the wild, so they grabbed an old volleyball net and tried to trap it in that. 
But the alligator broke through that "pretty easily", so they decided there was nothing else they could do but pounce on it, a la Steve Irwin. 
"We all dived on it and held it down and I managed to tie up the snout and then we bound its feet," Mr Rusker said. 
"Police and national parks arrived about 10 minutes later … it was a very long 10 minutes!" 
The reptile was taken into care by WIRES as police investigated where it came from. 
It was originally identified as a crocodile but Craig Adam of the Australian Reptile Park confirmed its true identity for Nine News after examining video footage. 
This species of alligator is native to North America. 
Anyone with information about the owner of the animal is urged to call Merimbula Police on (02) 6495 1366 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.


*EDIT* Didn't realise newbot beat me to it. *shakes fist*


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## redbellybite (Dec 30, 2008)

mmmmmmmm now somebody has made a major BOO BOO .....


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## ReptilianGuy (Dec 30, 2008)

that they have lol..


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## antaresia_boy (Dec 30, 2008)

hehe, thats gotta suck. you hear so much more about people keping exotic reptiles recently  what's wrong with our reptiles???


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## dezza09 (Dec 30, 2008)

Wow thats like 20 minutes from where I live


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## liberty (Dec 30, 2008)

mayeb its been living there and adapted


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## funcouple (Dec 30, 2008)

heres the link http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/704980/camper-tells-of-crocodile-shock


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## horsesrule (Dec 30, 2008)

Some poor buggers pet has got out.

They wont be happy to see there pets been caught.

Exotics are only going to become more popular in Australia the government needs to look at changing there stance and allowing some exotics on an exotic licence.

If they dont people will continue to smuggle in whatever they want.


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## GSXR_Boy (Dec 30, 2008)

Maybe the title should have been see ya later alligator :?


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## horsesrule (Dec 30, 2008)

Hope it gets sent to a wildlife park or zoo to live out the rest of its days.

It would be futile to euthanise it.


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## BenReyn (Dec 30, 2008)

Geese...Maybe an illegal escaped pet?:|


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## swaddo (Dec 30, 2008)

news here had it recorded as a 1.5m salty ... trying to rehome it with Mogo zoo or Tooronga apparently. Be interested to find out the truth :|


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## Oldbeard (Dec 30, 2008)

I heard it escaped from the Reptile Park, caught the train down to the south coast. Felt like a sea change Pretty damn smart those alligators.


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## dezza09 (Dec 30, 2008)

I think the local Wildlife park near Merimbula, Yellow Pinch has a salty and a freshy

But yeah I doubt they'd have the space to keep another one


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## ShnakeyGirl (Dec 30, 2008)

I was at the Australian Reptile Park today while they were recording for this story. They have apparently taken her there, where they are going to assess her to be kept as part of their Alligator collection. They also suspect that she was a illegal pet and her owners dumped her when she got too big to be kept inside.


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## pythons73 (Dec 31, 2008)

Yes,they found my little baby cuddles,how the hell did it get out.As a couple already suggested,someones pet,got to big so they let it go.


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## redbellybite (Dec 31, 2008)

ShnakeyGirl said:


> I was at the Australian Reptile Park today while they were recording for this story. They have apparently taken her there, where they are going to assess her to be kept as part of their Alligator collection. They also suspect that she was a illegal pet and her owners dumped her when she got too big to be kept inside.


  and this horserule is WHY I HOPE THEY DONT EVER CHANGE OUR LAWS........because what a nightmare our country would become if they allowed exotics ...more irresponsible reptile owners ...and animals that certainly do not belong here ...hence the fact of the ferel animals we all ready have here ,that have become out of control ,we certainly do not need to add any more ........the numbers that slip through illegally are bad enough ,little alone, to put it on a permit and have open season:evil:


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## DanTheMan (Dec 31, 2008)

redbellybite said:


> and this horserule is WHY I HOPE THEY DONT EVER CHANGE OUR LAWS........because what a nightmare our country would become if they allowed exotics ...more irresponsible reptile owners ...and animals that certainly do not belong here ...hence the fact of the ferel animals we all ready have here ,that have become out of control ,we certainly do not need to add any more ........the numbers that slip through illegally are bad enough ,little alone, to put it on a permit and have open season:evil:



Exactly, only need to look at the Burmese Pythons in California or wherever it is because of idiots that decide they are too big so they just dump them in the wild.


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## Luke1 (Dec 31, 2008)

aww...poor lil guy! hope he goes into good care!

who ever said the mogo zoo thing, they wouldn't have room for one would they? well...they have room but eh.....

redbellybite: exactly....i think its better not having them on for 1 reason in particular, is because it makes them more special when you se them at the zoos and stuff and you only see them every so often! 

Luke


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## horsesrule (Dec 31, 2008)

redbellybite said:


> and this horserule is WHY I HOPE THEY DONT EVER CHANGE OUR LAWS........because what a nightmare our country would become if they allowed exotics ...more irresponsible reptile owners ...and animals that certainly do not belong here ...hence the fact of the ferel animals we all ready have here ,that have become out of control ,we certainly do not need to add any more ........the numbers that slip through illegally are bad enough ,little alone, to put it on a permit and have open season:evil:


 

The laws just encourage people to dump there illegal animals in the bush. 

If they were legal this would not need to happen.

Our laws need to be changed, a large number of people want some kind of exotic pet. 

Im not saying we should allow anything and everything but some things could be allowed.

I think the laws only harm the environment more as people smuggle in animals carrying disease and god knows what else. If it was legal is could be managed and monitored.

I can say there are some exotic wildlife i would like. I woudnt mind some land tortise's as we done have any in this county.


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## redbellybite (Dec 31, 2008)

there will always be law breakers horserule....but opening the floodgate would be a catastrophy ....how many times do we read on here MY SNAKE GOT OUT ?????????? OR SOME OTHER REP THAT CANT BE FOUND????? people get relaxed even when in hold of a permit .....wanna see an exotic go to a ZOO!


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## DonnB (Dec 31, 2008)

I also believe we should stay with only native species. Exotics will just end up being dumped like they do in USA. Then our natives will be in trouble.


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## Retic (Dec 31, 2008)

Yep, thank goodness we have laws stopping people keeping exotics.


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## Oldbeard (Dec 31, 2008)

boa said:


> Yep, thank goodness we have laws stopping people keeping exotics.


 
:lol::lol::lol: Yes they are doing a great job of enforcing it !!!!!!!!


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## dragonman (Dec 31, 2008)

Mogo zoo already has one of these alligators and the enclosure is more then big enough for an extra one. Would have preferred it went there. Sally Padey and her team are doing a wonderful job with their various breeding programs they have going at Mogo zoo. For a private zoo it is absolutely first class.


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## Ninjaette (Dec 31, 2008)

Oldbeard said:


> I heard it escaped from the Reptile Park, caught the train down to the south coast. Felt like a sea change Pretty damn smart those alligators.


 
LMAO!!!!!!! Damn tourists.. :lol:


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## Ninjaette (Dec 31, 2008)

There's certainly some validity to both points of view - However, what this issue highlights is that the keeping of wild life not just in this country, but globally, is very very poorly regulated. I would imagine that it would cost governments a lot more money to put the proper regulatory measures in place - Money that they would (unfortunately) probably prefer to spend on other things.. :?



horsesrule said:


> The laws just encourage people to dump there illegal animals in the bush.
> 
> If they were legal this would not need to happen.
> 
> ...


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## junglepython2 (Dec 31, 2008)

Even if exotics were legalised they would never legalise gators as most states won't even let people keep native crocs. So using this as an example of why exotics should be legalised is rubbish.


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## Slateman (Dec 31, 2008)

horsesrule said:


> Some poor buggers pet has got out.
> 
> They wont be happy to see there pets been caught.
> 
> ...



I don't think that this will happen. there is no need for exotic import.
It would be impossible to keep control anyway. How you can keep eye on bred off springs


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## Wild_Storm (Dec 31, 2008)

Well, I for one am pleased it was caught... And if they haven't already figured that it will have had the opportunity to contaminate the environment so there is no point in killing the Gator, well too bad for the Gator.

However I do agree with Horsesrule to a certain extent... If the Government won't allow certain animals in on exotic permits then more people will chance it by smuggling them in... Smuggled animals do NOT have careful vet checks and the smugglers do NOT care about our environment.

I believe it is better for our environment to have CERTAIN SPECIES allowed (NOT a Gator!!) after Vet checks and strict quarrentine(?spelling?). Perhaps it could be a way the Government could make more money, by selling a certain amount of off-spring from a couple of Zoos every couple of years?

Flame away Guys!!


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## redbellybite (Dec 31, 2008)

well then same could be said for exotic drugs and plants and herbs and the list could go on and on and on each and every person in our country could argue why they think SOME EXOTICS should be legal so to solve all disputes BANNNNNNNNNNN THE LOT much easier


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## Wild_Storm (Dec 31, 2008)

redbellybite said:


> well then same could be said for exotic drugs and plants and herbs and the list could go on and on and on each and every person in our country could argue why they think SOME EXOTICS should be legal so to solve all disputes BANNNNNNNNNNN THE LOT much easier


 

Lol... Redbellybite- they do!! I didn't think Dope (can't spell it's real name!!) was 'native' to Aust?? And what about Tulips? Or Oleader Trees? Boganvilla? Just to name a few... They are 'exotics'... But they are allowed. Unless your garden is 100% native plants, the chances are you too have EXOTICS!!!


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## horsesrule (Dec 31, 2008)

I agree i think it needs to be done a case by case basis.

I think it needs to be closely looked at. A blanket ban as currently exists is doing more harm than good to the environment.

Snakes are always going to be banned until they come up with cures to diseases such as IBD however not all animals pose a risk i trully believe that.

I cant see Land Tortise's, taking over Australia.

I would love a monkey.

The reality is for those who are against all exotics is the governement is not going to be able to stop illegal imports. So there hear to stay the best way is to now manage the issue rather than try and outlaw it.

I do support you all though on some species but others i just think its insanity to not allow them.


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## horsesrule (Dec 31, 2008)

redbellybite said:


> well then same could be said for exotic drugs and plants and herbs and the list could go on and on and on each and every person in our country could argue why they think SOME EXOTICS should be legal so to solve all disputes BANNNNNNNNNNN THE LOT much easier


 

Drugs are banned and whats that achieved ? Nothing? 

Any drug any of us wants could be obtained easily. 

Banning is not always the solution i believe in some cases this one in particular blanket bans do more harm that good. 

Who knows what animals are being smuggled in and with what diseases? Why not legalise some ensure there disease free and make a exotic licence with strict conditions. 

Much smarter idea. 
Better for the environment.


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## Ninjaette (Dec 31, 2008)

Yes! With emphasis on the STRICT conditions - If this were to happen I could get me the colony of pygmy chameleons I've always wanted  



horsesrule said:


> Drugs are banned and whats that achieved ? Nothing?
> 
> Any drug any of us wants could be obtained easily.
> 
> ...


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## Reptile_Boy (Dec 31, 2008)

horsesrule said:


> Some poor buggers pet has got out.
> 
> They wont be happy to see there pets been caught.
> 
> ...


 

strongly agree.


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## jasonryles810 (Jan 1, 2009)

hahahah i wonder how many aussie herp purists were left gasping with horror?!?! hhahaahaha


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## aliveandkicking (Jan 2, 2009)

Horsesrule, you just need to create tension don't you!


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## redbellybite (Jan 2, 2009)

most of us AUSSIE herp collectors GET AND FULLY UNDERSTAND why the law is the law and totally GRATEFUL it is that way, but there will aways be people that like to push the boundries and have bizzare explanations of why they think......for those small minded, all for deleting, our exotic laws ,when it comes to our reptiles ...go do some investigating on what happens over seas when reptile laws are not a major issue ...maybe then, just then, you might appreciate the strongness that has been applied for our country ..if you still are not in favour ,maybe then you should look at up and relocating yourself then


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## aliveandkicking (Jan 2, 2009)

remember the cane toad, the rabbits, foxes, goats, pigs, horses, camels etc etc. They were brought over and now look at them. Whay happens when people bring over exotic species for their own ammusement, get sick of them and dump them?


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## Oldbeard (Jan 2, 2009)

aliveandkicking said:


> remember the cane toad, the rabbits, foxes, goats, pigs, horses, camels etc etc. They were brought over and now look at them. Whay happens when people bring over exotic species for their own ammusement, get sick of them and dump them?


 
Not to mention cats and dogs. Although If you want to bring in a dog or cat from overseas it has to be quarantined for six months, registered and microchipped. Im sure if you went to all that trouble and expense you wouldnt just dump it, you would be bringing it in cos you really wanted it. If exotics were allowed under the same system and have to be registered and microchipped, it could work.
I heard the snakehandler who found it, owns the alligator.


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