Race to save crocodile caught in tyre

INDONESIAN conservation officials are racing to locate and rescue a saltwater crocodile that has had a motorbike tyre wrapped around its neck for more than a year on the island of Sulawesi.

The stricken crocodile, measuring about 4m long, has been regularly spotted in a river running through Central Sulawesi’s capital, Palu, since 2016.

But a recent video shot by a local showed the reptile gasping for air with officials fearing the tyre is slowly killing the beast. Conservationists believe someone may have deliberately placed the tyre around its neck in a failed attempt to trap it as a pet.

The animal has been spotted in Palu. recently