Authorities say a 12-year-old girl is lucky to be alive after she was attacked by a 2.2-metre saltwater crocodile in a creek south of Darwin yesterday afternoon.
The Northern Territory Environment Department said the girl escaped with minor injuries.
NT Health said the girl has been discharged from Palmerston Regional Hospital after she was brought there yesterday in a stable condition.
The crocodile was caught in a trap set by rangers on Jenkins Road at about 8.30pm, hours after it was set.
The girl's mother told the ABC her daughter had been in knee-deep water collecting plants for her fish tank with her father when the attack occurred.
She said her daughter did not see the crocodile but "felt it bite her".
"The Crocodile Management Team said the girl is extremely lucky to have escaped with minor injuries as a crocodile of that size has potential to cause major, life-threatening injuries," the Environment Department said.
"This is a timely reminder to always Be Crocwise. High water levels during the wet season make it easy for crocodiles to move into areas undetected.
"Crocodiles can inhabit any body of water in the Top End."
NT Police Commander Danny Bacon said it was critical residents and visitors remained alert to the threat of crocodiles.
"Any body of water could – and possibly will – have a crocodile," he said.
"If you can't see the bottom of it and it's not your swimming pool then I would not go in the water at all because a crocodile could be sitting there."
The department said it has caught more than 70 crocodiles from the management zone this year.
In 2022, rangers removed 273 saltwater crocodiles from Top End waterways.
Since 1970, when crocodiles were near extinct due to an unregulated hunting trade, the Northern Territory's crocodile population has rebounded to about 100,000.
Wildlife experts have suggested that crocodiles, due to saturation of breeding habitats, are beginning to push into new areas.
The last fatal crocodile attack in the Northern Territory was in 2018.
