A CAIRNS plumber has spoken of the moment he fought off a 5m saltwater croc with a palm frond just before its jaws latched on to one of his pig hunting dogs.
Tom Bartlett, who was yesterday recovering from surgery for a knee injury suffered in the attack, said he was "bloody lucky" to survive the ordeal at a Cape York lagoon three weeks ago.
"He's the biggest one I've seen in my life," Mr Bartlett, 20, told The Cairns Post.
Mr Bartlett told how he and a dog survived the croc attack after bailing up a pig at a swamp near Kowanyama, where he was working with his father.
See our croc picture gallery here
He was returning from a hunting and fishing trip with his uncle and friends when a large boar ran across the road.
Mr Bartlett and the dogs chased the feral pig.
He found the dogs circling the boar at the edge of a lagoon about 3km away.
As he grabbed the pig’s legs, he said he had a "brain freeze" and turned his back to the water.
"I had this sense that something was behind me," Mr Bartlett said.
He turned to see a 5m saltwater croc crawling out of the water towards him.
"It was about a metre-and-a-half behind me and trying to grab my leg," he said.
"He was big and black."
The startled hunter leapt over the boar and stumbled as he tried to scurry up the bank.
"It sat me on my arse," Mr Bartlett said. "He was slowly coming towards me."
The only weapon he could find to defend himself was a pandanus palm frond.
"I started swinging and shouting at it," he said.
Remarkably, the croc backed into the water where it partially submerged itself.
"I could see his eyes, he was just watching me," Mr Bartlett said.
He called the dogs away from the water but the monster reptile suddenly lunged at his uncle's bull arab, Henry.
"He just came up and went bang, took the dog from right in front of me," Mr Bartlett said.
As the croc thrashed in the water with the yelping dog between its jaws, Mr Bartlett yelled for help.
His uncle arrived soon after and fired twice into the water.
"The croc's just let the dog go," Mr Bartlett said.
"The dog's swum slowly over and we've pulled him out."
Henry suffered a broken rib.
Meanwhile, in his panic to flee the predator, Mr Bartlett aggravated a knee ligament he had injured playing AFL.
He underwent a knee reconstruction in Townsville last week.
