CANNIBAL CHARLIE

CROC DEVOURS RIVAL

PETER MICHAEL IT’S a croc eat croc world.

This extraordinary image shows the moment a monster 4m saltwater crocodile bites the head off a 2m croc and eats it.

Known as Charlie, the cannibal croc is a prime tourist attraction in the mangrove-clad wetlands of Dickson Inlet at Port Douglas.

Weighing more than half a tonne, he’s been the dominant male of his territory for at least nine years and is known to have killed at least two big rival males.

Lady Douglas paddleboat skipper Drew Weyand, an amateur wildlife photographer, took the shot on one of his river cruises as a group of tourists watched on in fascinated horror.

“He’d ripped the head off the little male and was just guzzling it down,’’ the riverboat skipper said yesterday.

“It’s coming up to breeding season in September, so he was showing it who is boss, and made a meal of it.”

He said crocs were known to be cannibalistic but he’d never seen such a raw spectacle of brutal killing power.

“It is one of the most extra- ordinary things I’ve ever seen in the wild,’’ Mr Weyand said.

“He was smashing it down on the bank to break it up to eat it, the noise was phenomenal, it was such a loud whacking noise. Water and croc was going everywhere, there was blood and guts, and him just gulping it down his throat.

“Most of the tourists loved it except for one girl who found it a bit too real.”

Queensland Wildlife rangers removed a crocodile trap from Dickson Inlet on Thursday after catching two 2.5m female crocodiles as the elusive Charlie again evaded attempts to capture and relocate him.

Authorities warn visitors and locals to be croc-wise.