Life Plagiarizes Art in Story of Real-Life Monster Crocodile

Steve Barton   |  

Sep 6, 2011

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Films like Lake Placid, Primeval, Rogue, Black Water, Supercroc, and who the hell knows how many Syfy movies might have you believe that giant monster crocodiles are just the stuff of b-movies. Tell that to the Philippines, where they just captured a 21-foot, 1-ton crocodile.

Yahoo! News brings us the Associated Press story and some amazing imagery pertaining to a dangerous 2,370-pound saltwater crocodile captured after a three-week hunt in a small Filipino town south of Manila.

Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde said dozens of villagers and experts ensnared the 21-foot (6.4-meter) male crocodile along a creek in Bunawan township in Agusan del Sur province. It could be one of the largest crocodiles to be captured alive in recent years, he said, quoting local crocodile experts.

Elorde said the crocodile killed a water buffalo in an attack witnessed by villagers last month and was also suspected of having attacked a fisherman who went missing in July.

He said he sought the help of experts at a crocodile farm in western Palawan province.

“We were nervous, but it’s our duty to deal with a threat to the villagers,” Elorde told The Associated Press by telephone. “When I finally stood before it, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

Now there’s a prime example of the difference between real life and cinema. Mayor Elorde knew this beast had to be stopped before anyone else got hurt. But if this had been a Hollywood production, he would have been the exact opposite: “Giant crocodile? That’s absurd! Where’s your evidence? Do you have any idea how much money the annual cockfighting festival makes for this township? I’m not cancelling it just because of some nonsense about a monster crocodile!”

The behemoth croc destroyed four traps before a fifth using steel cables finally snared it. It then took 100 people to drag it from the creek where it was captured to a clearing where it had to be craned onto the back of a flatbed truck and taken to its new home where it will serve as the star attraction of an ecotourism park.

Wait a second. Isn’t that the ending to Lake Placid? Life isn’t just imitating art; life just totally stole the ending to Lake Placid! The whole set-up is stolen from Primeval and the ending cribbed from Lake Placid. Geez, reality has finally run out of original ideas.

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