12 March 2011
CROCODILE attack victim Todd Bairstow "was a goner" until others ran in to scare off the 4m beast, witnesses said yesterday.
The Rio Tinto mine worker, 28, went into the operating theatre for the third time in Cairns Base Hospital yesterday to treat horrific wounds suffered in his do-or-die battle with the croc.
Mr Bairstow was fishing alone when the crocodile lunged and latched on to his legs on the banks of Trunding Creek, near the Albatross Hotel, at Weipa about 4pm on Wednesday.
Known as Crocodile Dundee to his family, the avid bushman told his parents he clung on to mangroves in a terrifying 40-minute ordeal as the crocodile repeatedly rolled, ripping both his knees off the bone.
He punched, eye-gouged and wrestled the jaws of the croc as it toyed with him, trying to drag him into deeper water.
Witnesses who heard his screams and ran to his aid said they had to "club the croc to bits" before it reluctantly let go of Mr Bairstow.
Locals yesterday told how much bigger crocs lurk in the waterways, including a 5.4m giant known as Black Beauty and rumours of a 8m-long monster.
Mr Bairstow has not spoken publicly about his incredible fight for survival, with his family negotiating to sell the exclusive story to a global media group for a five-figure sum.
Cairns Base Hospital staff said the latest X-rays showed the horrific extent of Mr Bairstow's injuries.
Both knees have been completely rotated and ripped off the bone, with muscles and tendons torn off the joints.
Trapped in the vice-like jaws of the crocodile his worst injuries came as it repeatedly "rolled and rolled" trying to break his grip on the mangrove roots.
His legs are a shredded mess of deep tear wounds and puncture marks and he also faces a dire threat of infection from the rotten bacteria-coated maw of the monster.
Yesterday he went into his third round of surgery on a fractured left knee, two bilateral dislocated knees, fractured finger, abrasions and puncture marks that will need ongoing surgery.
Some cynics suggested the croc was too small to kill a human and scoffed at the likelihood the terrifying ordeal lasted 40 minutes.
But croc expert Gordon Grigg, Emeritus Professor of zoology at the University of Queensland, yesterday scotched doubts about the killing power of the croc or the protracted life-or-death struggle.
He said a 4m croc would weigh up to 250kg, be at least 15 years old and be as capable of taking down a human as a wild bullock.
He added a croc attack was not all a blinding rush and might often become a timeless waiting game between predator and prey.
"Certainly crocodiles will take a large prey item and just sit there with it in its mouth.
But the only way to survive the rip-and-tear of a croc's death roll would be to roll with it, he said.
"There is no reason to doubt him," Professor Grigg said.
"He's got horrific wounds to show. Whatever he says, it's true.
"Crocs are unpredictable, it is an amazing story, good luck to him, it's terrifying."
He said the thought of the shredded flesh, blood and fractured limbs in the attack was nightmarish.
"Apart from blood loss and bone repair, managing infection from the puncture wounds is vitally important."
Wildlife rangers have set traps in order to catch the crocodile.
