Meet ‘Fingers’, the 3.3 meter saltwater crocodile captured at Cable Beach in Western Australia

A 3.3-metre saltwater crocodile spotted near a popular swimming spot in Western Australia’s far north has been captured, named and rehomed.

Parks and Wildlife rangers caught the “adolescent” crocodile on Tuesday, after a sighting about 1.5 kilometers north of Cable Beach rocks, and transferred it to the Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park in Broome.

“This crocodile is living its best new life at Croc Park on Broome Highway, educating visitors,” Yawuru Parks co-ordinator Wil Bennett told the ABC.

Mr Bennett said Fingers was captured and taken to the Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park rather than moved by rangers because he was found in the crocodile risk mitigation zone within Yawuru Conservation Park.

Although crocodile sightings are less common in the area during the dry season, he said this sighting showed residents and visitors should still be “cautious”.

“If you’re anywhere in north-west Australia… you really need to be aware that this is crocodile country,” Mr Bennett said.

A thriving population

Owen Douglas, who runs feeding tours on the property, said the sighting of a crocodile at Cable Beach during the dry season indicated the crocodile population was thriving – thanks in large part to the conservation work of his late grandfather, Malcolm Douglas.

“In the last 50 years since they were protected, the crocodile population in the northwest of here has exploded,” he said.

“Many crocodiles are unable to find their own territory in the north, so they travel south and get kicked out of every creek.

“He’s just trying to find his own house; he’s not going to live in Cable Beach.”

Now that Fingers has been taken into captivity, there will be no more swimming for him along Cable Beach.

“We are not able to reintroduce any of our crocodiles into the wild because the majority of them are all wild caught,” Mr Douglas said.

“Because a lot of them have been aggressive… you’re not going to reintroduce a really bad, deadly crocodile into the wild.”

At just 11 feet long, Fingers is a “teenager” by crocodile standards, and he still has a lot of growing to do.

“It will be a few more years before he is eligible to be shown in shows,” Mr Douglas said.

The park’s most famous inhabitants — all nearly 5 meters tall — are “Fatso,” made famous by an encounter with a “spiritually seeking” tourist who wandered into his enclosure; Aggro, raised by a Benedictine monk; and Maniac, a particularly savage specimen brought in after killing horses at a remote Kimberley station.