Croc That Took Australian Boy was Fed by Locals

Hopes were fading Monday for a nine-year-old boy taken by a four meter (13 feet) crocodile in northern Australia, which police said was being fed by the local community.

The child was swimming with a group of people at Port Bradshaw, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the town of Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory, on Saturday when he was grabbed.

Adults threw spears at the animal but it responded by dragging the boy into deeper water and no sign has been seen of him since.

It was the second recent attack on a child after a seven-year-old girl went missing while swimming with her family last month, also in Australia's north. A hunt resulted in a crocodile being shot and human remains were found inside it.

Northern Territory police said that in the latest incident the crocodile had lived side by side with the Nhulunbuy community for 20 years.

"The croc was believed to be very old and the community had interacted with it in the past," a police spokesman told AFP.

"From time to time they threw it food, or left fish carcasses out. Not a wise move.

"Our local officer in Nhulunbuy said the croc had been known to the community for 20 years," the spokesman added.

Saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven meters long and weigh more than a tonne, are a common feature of Australia's tropical north.

They have been protected since the 1970s and their numbers have increased steadily since, along with the number of human encounters.

Adam Britton, a Darwin-based crocodile specialist, told ABC radio it might be time for a new crocodile management plan, given the explosion in numbers.

"Areas where people haven't seen crocodiles for decades, they're suddenly starting to see animals in these places," he said.

Britton said any management plan should be more than just removing crocodiles from danger areas, which is the current practice.

"It's also about educating people and educating the local community about the dangers of crocodiles, train the local rangers, the local community to actually start taking their own proactive steps towards making the place safer for people," he said.