Offbeat Crocodile trapped in tyre

[mofro187]

WILDLIFE officers are hoping to free a large Northern Territory crocodile swimming around with its head stuck in a tyre.

The 3.5m crocodile is still strong enough to submerge, even though it has to drag down a huge lump of rubber but it is unlikely to be able to swim fast enough to catch prey, the Northern Territory News reports.

The sizeable saltie is slowly starving to death.

NT Parks and Wildlife ranger Tom Nichols plans to harpoon the croc and remove the unwanted necklace.

"If the crocodile is in good condition, we'll let it go," he said.

"Otherwise I'll bring it back to Darwin with me.

"I'll try to harpoon it during the day. If that doesn't work, I'll go after it at night."

The crocodile lives near the old pumping station on the Mary River, 150km by road east of Darwin.

It is unsure how the saltie got its head stuck in the tyre. The struggling croc was seen by three houseboat guests over the weekend.

Darwin businesswoman Linda Jolly, 59, and SA friends Graeme Wright, 54, and Larry Gilbert, 53, photographed the animal as it swam up the river.

"It didn't seem to have any problem swimming," Mr Wright said.