ABUSED and forgotten – that is how the Northern Territory treated the mighty Cassius. And now all of a sudden, they want him back. Forget about it buddies!

Cassius the 5.48m saltwater crocodile, who now happily resides at Marineland Melanesia on Green Island, has officially been recognised as being the largest crocodile in captivity.

He will appear in the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records, which will be published in Australia on September 15.

The massive croc has lived in luxury on the resort island for close to 24 years, growing larger each day from a healthy diet of fresh chickens and fish.

However, after reading about the Cairns zoo`s accolade, green-eyed Territorians are now trying to claim Cassius as their own.

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Cassius was captured south of Darwin in 1987, and brought about 32000km from the NT to Green Island by kind-hearted Marineland founder George Craig.

"If we can claim sportsmen who spend the first few seconds of their life in the NT, we can put the stamp on Cassius,'' Crocosaurus Cove croc manager Nigel Palmer told the NT News.

Mr Palmer went as far as calling for the NT to buy the croc back.

It's a stunning backflip, according to Marineland Melanesia keeper Toody Scott, who claimed Cassius had been rejected by Territorians, after he was placed in a croc farm - to the point locals allegedly threw stones at the giant reptile.

"They had him hidden away for four years, in a croc farm and the locals apparently didn't take much of a liking to him, because of his reputation,'' Mr Scott said.

"They didn't want him hanging around.

"The farmer at the time, gave George a call and thought George would be able to offer a better home for him in Queensland.''

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The Cairns Post and The NT News are going snout-to-snout to determine which region has the biggest, best and baddest crocodiles in Australia.

Readers will be able to compare the best croc tales from the Far North and the Northern Territory, and vote for which region they think is top of the crocs.

Mr Scott said it was plain to see from online comments so far that the Far North Queenslanders had far more respect for nature's magnificent predators.

"All you need to do is look at the comments from the Territorians talking about shooting them and killing them - it's like they don't even want crocs up there,'' he said.

To vote in the FNQ vs NT Croc-Off, head to http://www.cairns.com.au/crocoff

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