- 1 year ago
Season 1 (2001-2002)
Synopsis: Steve bids a sad farewell to Mary, one of his oldest and dearest animal friends, the Zoo's matriarch crocodile; a Burmese python puts the squeeze on Gus.
Plot: Vets Chris and Danny perform a dangerous and delicate life-saving operation on Australia's biggest venomous snake - the king brown. Raiding Bindi's nest become very difficult when Graham protects his girl and his territory. Darren gives a fluid injection to the recovering king brown snake. Steve and Terri struggle to take photos of Agro's serious medical condition, while a Burmese python puts the squeeze on Gus. And Steve suffers a huge emotional loss when Australia Zoo's matriarch crocodile, Mary, suddenly dies.
Synopsis: Steve bids a sad farewell to Mary, one of his oldest and dearest animal friends, the Zoo's matriarch crocodile; a Burmese python puts the squeeze on Gus.
Plot: Vets Chris and Danny perform a dangerous and delicate life-saving operation on Australia's biggest venomous snake - the king brown. Raiding Bindi's nest become very difficult when Graham protects his girl and his territory. Darren gives a fluid injection to the recovering king brown snake. Steve and Terri struggle to take photos of Agro's serious medical condition, while a Burmese python puts the squeeze on Gus. And Steve suffers a huge emotional loss when Australia Zoo's matriarch crocodile, Mary, suddenly dies.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Steve Irwin and welcome to Animal Planet's Croc Week.
00:06It's been a great week of croc hunter action and it continues tonight with the world premiere
00:11episode of my new series, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries.
00:16And this one's called Mary's Farewell.
00:19This is one of the saddest moments of my entire life.
00:23I lose my oldest and most legendary crocodile, Mary.
00:28I reckon anyone who's ever lost their pet or someone close to them will understand the
00:33emotion that I experience in this very special tribute to the matriarch of Australia Zoo.
00:41Croc Week continues tonight and tomorrow night only here on Animal Planet.
00:48In this episode of Croc Diaries, danger for everyone in an operation on a deadly snake.
00:56Raiding the eggs from our toughest crocodile's nest.
01:01And how to give an injection to Australia's biggest venomous snake.
01:05Join me at my home for the fun, the danger and the real life drama behind the scenes
01:11at Australia Zoo.
01:26It's croc nesting season, which means we've got to do some egg raids and the first nest
01:41we've got to get is Molly.
01:44Can you believe she actually got her nest above the floodwaters and successfully laid
01:49her eggs?
01:50Now Molly's a handful.
01:52She's a birdie can croc and she hits hard, but her bloke is a killer.
01:57Murray will not tolerate anything in his territory.
02:00Here we go.
02:04Brian's been watching him and he's concerned about whether we can distract him from the
02:08nest raid.
02:09I've got her right here, Steve.
02:10Yeah.
02:11The only thing I'm worried about is...
02:12Yeah?
02:13Any big movement around that out of ground thing, I think she might button up to that.
02:20Yeah?
02:21She's trying to attract attention away from me.
02:24Yeah, beauty, he's going under.
02:27Come on.
02:28She can see me.
02:35The best thing about Murray and Molly is the clear water.
02:38It means we can see them under the water at all times.
02:42It gives us the edge when you can see the crocodile and the trick is to keep them interested
02:48in something else except me.
02:52We have to be precise as well as fast.
02:55Every egg has to be picked up and placed down the same way that it was laid in the nest.
03:00The crocodile embryos attach themselves to the top of the eggs and if we roll them, the
03:04babies will drown inside their own egg.
03:09The crocodiles are getting restless.
03:11Distraction can only hold them for just so long before they realise something's up with
03:15the nest and they attack.
03:16Just checking for any other chambers, Brian.
03:17She's only got a low number of eggs.
03:18I tell you what.
03:19Steam a nest.
03:20Where's that?
03:21I'm good to go.
03:22Success.
03:23All the eggs are out safely and nobody's been hurt.
03:24We're out of here.
03:25And the crocs are happy too.
03:26Fast raid, low stress.
03:27Come on.
03:28Come on.
03:29Come on.
03:30Come on.
03:31Come on.
03:32Come on.
03:33Come on.
03:34Come on.
03:35Come on.
03:36Come on.
03:37Come on.
03:38Come on.
03:39Come on.
03:40Come on.
03:41Come on.
03:42Come on.
03:43Come on.
03:45Here she comes.
03:46We have to raid the nest and take the eggs.
03:49We can't afford for the eggs to hatch out in the enclosure.
03:52We'll have baby crocodiles everywhere.
03:55And we do it so hard and so fast that the crocodiles don't even know that we've taken
04:00their eggs.
04:01So they go through the natural process of defending their nest site.
04:05Yeah.
04:06Yeah.
04:07This is that thing I was telling you about, Richard.
04:16The swollen nose there.
04:17It's just getting a bit out of control, I think.
04:18Ah, I see, mate.
04:19Yeah.
04:20Because that's really come up quick.
04:21It has, hasn't it?
04:22So I think we can, um, we'll get serious with it.
04:23Definitely.
04:24And fix him up.
04:26Well, I'm going to head off to bed now and, um, probably take an hour or so and I'll,
04:50I'll be back.
04:51Yep.
04:52With such a big abscess on its nose, there's a good chance the snake could die without veterinary help.
04:59There's nothing easy about treating one of the world's most venomous snakes.
05:03And with his nasty reputation for being aggro, there's an incredible danger just getting him out of the bag.
05:11Alright, what I'll do is I'll twist the corner of the bag here and I'll try and shake him down through.
05:19I think that's the plane.
05:22You alright Chris?
05:23Yep.
05:25This is where it could all go terribly wrong.
05:35I'll pull it back this way Chris. I can do it if you want.
05:39So he's safe.
05:40Alright.
05:41I'm going to actually pull this lid back like this.
05:44This is the way I'm doing it at work.
05:45Yep.
05:48You guys tell me when you're...
05:52That's coiled here.
05:53We might have to...
05:54Let's undo it for a sec.
05:55Yep.
06:01I'm happy at my end.
06:02Geez we're good guys. Hang on, just a little tail there.
06:05Alright.
06:10Beautiful.
06:11Nice tight seal.
06:12I'm pretty happy.
06:13It's not the walrus.
06:16He won't be able to push out of there in a week.
06:20Let's get a few big textbooks and make them on top of there.
06:23Chris wants some extra weight on the box, just in case.
06:26Have you seen it?
06:27No I can't really, I can see his nose there.
06:29Oh right.
06:31It's almost sort of getting in front of his eye there isn't it?
06:34Yeah, yeah.
06:36Nostril looks clear though.
06:37It's not symmetrical is it?
06:38And you can't hear him having trouble breathing.
06:41No, he breathes fine, feeds, does everything like a normal snake.
06:45Chris and Danny take on the dangerous jobs from Australia Zoo
06:49that many other veterinarians would never encounter.
06:54Make sure I don't pass out on that.
06:55The King Brown is such a powerful snake
06:58that it should be totally unconscious for major surgical treatment.
07:02But at this stage, it's still putting up a struggle.
07:07Hang on guys, I'm gonna...
07:11This is going to be tough.
07:12We have to work on the head
07:14and that means the anesthetic mask will have to come off
07:17so Chris and Danny can operate on the wound.
07:21Darren's experience means he can detect by the feel of its muscles
07:25when the snake's building up to a strike or a struggle.
07:30You can feel him build up when he's back.
07:36The anesthetic's not taking full effect
07:38and we suspect the King Brown might be holding his breath.
07:43You're right to that.
07:44I can take that, yeah.
07:46We're forcing a spatula between his teeth
07:48to give him something to bite on
07:50and to hold his mouth open so he takes enough anesthetic
07:53to knock him out completely.
07:55The challenge now is to make sure we keep him alive
07:59while the vets operate.
08:01As soon as he's totally under,
08:03we have to make sure he keeps breathing
08:05by pushing a ventilator tube down his throat
08:08so we can hand-pump oxygen straight into his lungs.
08:16I just hate this venom stuff.
08:19Let's get him out again to see if we can open his mouth.
08:27Even though the snake's unconscious,
08:29his venom-pumping reflex has been activated by the spatula
08:33and some of that deadly venom is leaking out onto Darren's hands.
08:42Just angle him this way, can I?
08:44So the venom will drip down, not down my arm.
08:48The important thing is when you move the head,
08:50the tube's got to move with it, otherwise it'll come out.
08:53Just leave it, you know, enough in the bag the whole time.
08:56You have to breathe for him.
08:57I think he's probably deep enough.
08:59We'll grab the kit and we'll have a look.
09:02And are you going to be able to work safely with my fingers here?
09:05The scalpel is working less than an inch from Darren's venom-soaked fingers
09:10as Danny cuts into the wound and cleans out the abscess.
09:16I need the light bulb right down here, as close as you can,
09:19and far down, aiming this way, down in there, at that angle.
09:23That's just open it up really well, that's good.
09:27His tail's moving.
09:29There's movement, but the snake still seems to be safely asleep.
09:39The treatment's going really well,
09:41but there's concern about Darren's exposure to the venom.
09:51We've got a lot out, mate.
09:52Some big blobs of muck came out of there.
09:55So that's got to be good news for him,
09:57and that's the problem with reptiles' pus, it's so thick and cheesy
10:01that it just doesn't want to do anything.
10:13It's not just the risk of a bite.
10:15If there had been a cut or skin abrasion, Darren could have absorbed some venom.
10:20Still to come in Croc Diaries...
10:22Cut the scales back to try and let all the yuck come out.
10:34Our king brown's well on the road to recovery,
10:37but it hasn't been eating, so it's going to have to have fluid.
10:40The only way to do that, sub-Q, an injection underneath the skin,
10:45which is quite amazing because then the body slowly absorbs it.
10:50The snake can't eat through his mouth,
10:52but he can still inflict a deadly bite,
10:55so Darren's trying to persuade him to crawl up a plastic tube.
10:59The tube will keep the head restrained and the rest of the body free
11:03while he gets the opportunity to perform a fluid injection.
11:10The trick is to get them to run along the box,
11:13and then they go into the tube.
11:15I'll just keep my little pipe wrench on the other side.
11:18I'm going to bring it back this way.
11:20The longer this takes, the crankier the snake gets,
11:24and the king brown can be extremely aggressive.
11:27Look at the size of him.
11:29He's got a long strike range and a huge amount of power behind his deadly fangs.
11:38Get used to it. Once you've chewed them a few times,
11:41they get on the nose, and they just will not go in there.
11:45The technique is to restrict the snake's movement so much
11:49that the easiest way out seems to be up the plastic tube.
11:55Messing with the king.
11:57So far, the snake isn't being aggressive.
11:59He's not trying to bite.
12:01He just wants to get away from Darren
12:03and hide in the narrow gap he can see below the boxes.
12:07Go back to the beginning.
12:11Hold that box.
12:17Now let him go.
12:21Now that his head and upper body are in the tube,
12:24we can handle him safely and give him some life-saving fluids.
12:28You can see they've taken a couple of scales back
12:30to try and let all the yuck come out,
12:33and what will happen is it will granulate from the inside out.
12:36That should work all the infection out.
12:38If you can see, that swelling around his eyes has gone down a lot.
12:42I'm not having any scars. They'll just regrow.
12:44They will regrow, yeah.
12:53All right, now...
12:55With the fluids, what you can sometimes do
12:58is you can run it up their backbone,
13:01and you can get a lot more in
13:03instead of bulging out the connective tissue there.
13:06The best thing is to try and get the snake straight
13:09rather than in a kink.
13:11With this big needle, it's very hard to get nice and shallow,
13:14so I'm sort of going to go to the side of it.
13:17You there? Yeah.
13:19Just in under the skin,
13:21and hopefully I can get it to shoot.
13:26See how it's running right on the side? Yeah.
13:28That's a winner.
13:30See it? Yeah.
13:32It's the best way to get fluids in, mate.
13:34I've got a lot of fluids for this fella, so...
13:36OK.
13:40Richard and Kelsey are working on an Australia Zoo success story,
13:44a captive breeding program
13:46for the extremely rare rusty monitor lizard.
13:52440. Beautiful.
13:56I'm glad she's laying.
13:58After what you said last week, I thought I'd kind of given up hope.
14:01Yeah, I'd given up.
14:03Clutch of at least eight, probably.
14:05Get organised up there if you want to pass them up to me,
14:08one by one, and we'll go from there.
14:10These eggs are like gold,
14:12a vital step in the survival of an endangered species.
14:16Seven grams? Seven grams?
14:18Very little is known about the rusty monitor,
14:21and our research is essential.
14:23It is getting... These eggs are getting bigger.
14:26Stay up. Don't sleep.
14:29OK, well, at least we got another eight eggs.
14:32That's pretty good. She already laid 12 for us earlier this year.
14:35Yep. That's excellent.
14:37Keep a close eye on that other girl too, I guess,
14:40cos chances are if she'd have laid twice...
14:43There's every chance she will. ..she probably will too.
14:46Well, here we go.
14:48Still to come in Croc Diaries,
14:50just watch this amazing burst of speed on dry land.
14:56Now, when the crocodiles are nesting,
14:58it is full-on action,
15:00with Goldie, one of our crocodiles that's a hard hitter.
15:03We've got to be on our toes.
15:05But it isn't just the female crocodile we have to worry about.
15:08Monty's a great dad.
15:10He's so powerful and awesome and such a hard hitter
15:13that we've got to watch out every time we see him.
15:16We've got to be on our toes.
15:18We've got to be on our toes.
15:20We've got to be on our toes.
15:22..and such a hard hitter
15:24that we've got to watch out even between the fences.
15:27And this is where Wes gets into a bit of trouble.
15:30I'll take her down the middle bank. OK.
15:33How about I jump on top of the rock of Scarman
15:35and get Monty out on that little ledge of grass
15:38on the left-hand side of the bridge?
15:40Keep feeding her, and then I'll approach her nest.
15:43She'll up me, and I'll back her back as far as I can.
15:46Inside? Inside.
15:48All right. OK, OK.
15:50So everyone else up the other end. I don't want anyone down the nest.
15:53Yeah, and then if you can just sneak in. I can.
15:55It's hard to get out of that corner, so...
15:57Yeah, no, I'm happy. I'm really happy.
15:59Do you want a couple of nuts? You're doing it.
16:01Yeah. Yeah, all right.
16:03Um... A couple of fruits for lunch.
16:05Good oak. We're good.
16:07The first thing that Brian does is show him the white food bucket.
16:11Monty, just everybody stay still there. He's getting too confused.
16:14Hey, Monty.
16:16Monty.
16:18That means feeding time,
16:20and when you combine that with people invading their territory,
16:24we manage to distract all their attention away from the nest site.
16:32Come on, sweetheart.
16:34Come on, sweetheart.
16:36OK, you can probably sneak in.
16:38Now just watch this amazing burst of speed on dry land.
16:43Good girl. Good girl. Here you go. Here you go.
16:45Here you go. Monty.
16:47So far, it's proven to be the perfect plan.
16:50We got a free run at the nest
16:52while the crocodiles are fully occupied with Brian up high
16:55and Wes down at the waterline.
16:59That's power.
17:01And next time, Wes almost cops the look.
17:04Watch out, mate.
17:06Whoa!
17:08That was so close,
17:10and Wes drops out of sight to confuse the crocodiles even more.
17:14The raid's gone so smoothly that I'm out of the enclosure
17:17before anyone even realises I've been in there and grabbed the eggs.
17:25You all right? I'm out.
17:27After all that danger and adrenaline,
17:29we end up with a disappointing result.
17:32There's something wrong with the eggs.
17:35I'm pretty sure they're infertile, Briano.
17:37Oh, right. The nest is cold.
17:39Yeah. She hasn't got enough dirt mixed in with her...
17:42..with her substrate.
17:44She needed finer stuff as well as the thicker stuff.
17:47Is this her first go?
17:49Yeah.
17:51But I'm pretty sure they're infertile.
17:53In fact, I'm positive.
17:57And the nest was cold. It wasn't, like, 30 degrees like Molly's.
18:00Yeah, even the eggs are cold.
18:02Yeah.
18:03Jeez, that went well.
18:05I can't believe how well that went.
18:07What happened here?
18:09All I saw was this big lizard in the corner.
18:11Wasn't that where Wes once was?
18:13He come tearing over and I jumped the fence and he was right up me
18:16and I landed right on that corner.
18:18On his back?
18:19Just full tilt.
18:20Is this where he hid?
18:22Yeah, and I fell over to here and landed on that
18:24and I couldn't move cos he was just on me
18:26so I just landed and I got the fence pushing on it.
18:28That there?
18:29Yeah.
18:30Little bugger.
18:32You want to give... We're on a bit of a roll.
18:34You want to give Graham and Bindi a hit?
18:36Yeah, why not?
18:37Well, they've got more food.
18:38Let's do it.
18:39Let's get some more buckets then.
18:40Right here.
18:42Graham and Bindi always put up a huge fight.
18:46She can move this cross.
18:48She come off the top of that nest,
18:50planed across the top of the water and grabbed the bank on their side
18:52before we just jumped over this bank.
18:54You know, Wes, he is so primed,
18:56I don't even think you'll have to go in there.
18:58You'll be able to pull him up into that corner and hold him.
19:01He is way on.
19:03I'd say she's pretty keen too but she knows something, doesn't she?
19:06OK, so she's got some bubbles coming up.
19:09Yeah, he's just about to come up.
19:11Once he gets a visual, mate, he'll be fine, I think.
19:13There she is, right against the bank.
19:19No.
19:20Bang the bucket, bang the bucket.
19:23OK, take her down and see if she can...
19:25No, no, no, no.
19:26You all right?
19:27Bang the bucket.
19:29I don't want the food.
19:31Go, sweetheart. Go, sweetheart.
19:35He's nervous.
19:37Graham's just coming around.
19:39Graham's near the stump there now, Brian.
19:43He's coming down now.
19:45Graham's coming down there now.
19:48Bindi's taken up a defensive position right next to the nest
19:52but Brian's offering of food is too much
19:55and she turns away long enough for me to climb the fence and reach the eggs.
20:00What happens next is a really close call for our cameraman.
20:07Come on, big fella. Come on.
20:12Hey, back off, back off!
20:14Graham ignored the food for a second and tried to eat the camera.
20:22Not even food will keep Graham and Bindi away from the nest forever
20:26and eventually they'll check out their eggs no matter what else is going on
20:30and once that happens, we're going to have to abandon the raid and get out of there.
20:38You all right, Steve?
20:42Graham now knows there's other people in his territory as well as Wes.
20:46He's starting to lose interest in the food
20:49and Wes has to get too close for comfort to keep him distracted.
20:56You all right, Steve?
21:01You all right, mate?
21:04Got the eggs and only just in time.
21:06Brian and Wes were having a hard time keeping their interest.
21:19This time the eggs look great.
21:21This one's banded.
21:27Wow, good work, team.
21:29Unbelievable, you stayed alive, Wes.
21:31Tell you what, he's getting big, that lizard.
21:33He is, isn't he? He was on you.
21:35He knew what was going on.
21:37He turned on you here, mate, and even food wasn't even working.
21:40He's like, I'm going to kill that guy near my nest.
21:43You know, you've got to do that to appreciate
21:47how even he doesn't want anyone mucking with his baby.
21:50He's just protecting it, looking after his girl.
21:53And she's cute.
21:55Good work, good work.
21:57Amanda and Brian hold the eggs up to a light to see if they're fertile.
22:01How many were broken?
22:03Yeah, the dark bit.
22:05But see, the rest of the band is much further advanced to that.
22:08What's that, sorry?
22:10Maybe that's a restive development.
22:12Different eggs are different.
22:15Yeah, I reckon it's banded.
22:17But some of them are really, really distinct.
22:19Yeah, I don't know.
22:21The other one's just seen more advanced.
22:23I guess we'll find out, won't we?
22:27Still to come in Croc Diaries,
22:29a massive effort to check a health problem with agro.
22:34Gus needs help to unwrap from a huge python.
22:38And a great loss strikes the heart of Australia Zoo.
22:49Ah, Steve to everyone, Steve to everyone.
22:51We're ready to go on this meeting.
22:53Looks like there's a new tip.
22:55Have a seat.
23:00OK, so just so everyone's updated,
23:03we believe that agro has a problem with his cloaca.
23:07And so we are going to try something that we've never tried before
23:11and it involves a heck of a lot of danger.
23:14I'm going to try and draw agro up out of the water
23:17and get him up high,
23:19so as he's up on all fours,
23:21so as you can get a look at his cloaca.
23:25So we're going to use three different methods
23:28to identify if and or where the problem is.
23:32Bryno's on the binoculars.
23:34He's on the binoculars because he knows his cloacas better than anyone.
23:37Wes is going on the SLR with a 300mm lens
23:40so as we can secure some shots of it.
23:44Terry's going on video because if we need this back up,
23:47if Wes, if all else fails, we'll have video vision.
23:52These three people are going to have to be close to the ground to get it.
23:57We're talking about an animal that's like this
23:59and you're shooting to get here,
24:01which is going to be very, very difficult.
24:03Right, let's do it.
24:05Let's go, Roy.
24:07So you'll just, like...
24:09I'll move up. I'll keep out of your way.
24:11He's in a perfect position.
24:15I might go over there right now while he's in that good position.
24:19Agro's a very cranky crocodile, even at the best of times,
24:23and a sore cloaca is going to make him even more aggressive than normal.
24:28I'm doing the feeding because Agro hates me
24:31and he'll try and kill me no matter what.
24:37I'm going to try and take it this way.
24:39Can I move behind you?
24:41No, I reckon from there it'd be good.
24:43Probably better off going from the side.
24:45Agro's not jumping high enough.
24:47He's keeping his belly low to the ground
24:49and we're only getting the tiniest glimpses of what's going on under there.
24:55He's holding it high, mate, eh?
24:57Such a big food source should have him jumping up like a rocket.
25:01I can't let him take it because once he's got it in the water,
25:05he'll have a full feed and he won't come out for more.
25:08One successful lunch from Agro and it's all over.
25:11Come on.
25:16Walk, mate, walk.
25:19Got a partial view that time, but not quite enough.
25:22Definitely not just going.
25:28Uh-oh.
25:29Bad move. He won't let go
25:31and we got nothing like a decent shot or even a good look at it.
25:35If I get him to roll, we'll get a good look at it.
25:38A crocodile death roll would be the perfect result.
25:42How you going there, brino?
25:44Um, you could maybe give it to...
25:48Game over and no result.
25:50That enormous meal's going to keep him occupied for quite a long time.
26:02How hard is it to get a good look
26:04at a big, dominant male saltwater crocodile's cloaca?
26:08Real hard.
26:09Come rain, hail or shine,
26:11we're going to have to persist until we see it.
26:14He could have a problem.
26:16Ready to get down low?
26:18See if I can get him out.
26:21Come on, then.
26:23Come on, buddy.
26:24Up you come.
26:26Come on, then.
26:27Come on, buddy.
26:28Come on. Up you come.
26:31He's a good boy.
26:32Come on now.
26:34Instead of food,
26:35this time we're going to rely on Agro's natural instinct
26:38to defend his territory.
26:40There it is. Come on now.
26:46Heavy rain really excites crocodiles,
26:49so we keep going.
26:50This weather could be the trigger that helps get him up nice and high.
26:54Come on.
26:55Come on. Come on.
26:57There's a boy.
26:59How we going with that food source?
27:03OK, we're good.
27:06We're using a part of the enclosure
27:08where the shorter grass will give us a better view
27:11and we can see an enormous amount of swelling.
27:14Crikey, it must be painful.
27:17Come on, then.
27:20Once he's got a good grip on the food source,
27:22we've only got a few moments left to get some good shots.
27:25He'll be back in the water in a flash,
27:28swallow and digest his meal.
27:33Yep, it's swollen.
27:37And it does look like in between the scales it's a bit wrecked.
27:43But it's definitely distended.
27:45It's soft at the end, but I do think I got a grab of it.
27:49So there's bad rain, I don't know how it's going to turn out,
27:52but I got some good sight on shots,
27:54especially when he was up, of what's hanging.
27:56I can't tell where I am in relation to the fence.
27:59I don't know if this is on the fence or if you'll actually see it,
28:02but I saw it.
28:04Hey, good work, team. Real good.
28:07Still to come in Croc Diaries,
28:09a great loss strikes the heart of Australia Zoo.
28:20Steve has been rescuing crocodiles since he was a boy,
28:23but no croc has been more special to him than Mary.
28:27She's a giant crocodile,
28:29a female being nearly 11 feet in length.
28:32Steve had never seen a bigger female croc.
28:35She was also very old.
28:37Being over 100 years in age,
28:39she'd well outlived her average life expectancy of about 80 years.
28:44She was the big, beautiful matriarch of Australia Zoo.
28:49And as she got older, as all animals do,
28:52she began to suffer from her age.
28:56And today, Mary's time had come.
29:01This is easily one of the saddest days of my entire life.
29:05On one of my routine crocodile checks,
29:07I noticed Mary in the same position as she was last night.
29:12And she rests here every night, and I see her every morning.
29:17But this morning was different.
29:21She didn't move.
29:23She didn't breathe.
29:27So I made a decision to shut down the crocodile environmental park.
29:33She was dead.
29:39The closest I've ever had to a crocodile friend in my life.
29:50I took a bit of a risk
29:52because she shared this territory with Agro and Cookie.
29:59But I was so sad,
30:01I threw caution to the wind without a second thought
30:06to help my friend.
30:16Her eyes were shut.
30:18Her mouth was slightly ajar.
30:23She died in her sleep.
30:26The best way anyone could ever go.
30:42This is a really special friend of mine.
30:45Her name's Mary, and I call her Mary.
30:50Her name's Mary, and I caught her when she was over 100 years of age.
30:56And she's one of the most beautiful animals I've ever seen in my entire life.
31:02And I love her like I love my wife.
31:05I just love Mary so much.
31:13You know, my good friend, my best friend Wes,
31:17she was there with me when we caught her.
31:19We didn't want to catch her.
31:21We didn't want to catch her.
31:23But if we did, they would have killed her.
31:29And thanks, Wes, you know.
31:32What we did was a decision we had to make.
31:36And we did it, and we caught her.
31:39And she has made a difference for crocodile conservation.
31:42The finest gift she ever could have given the world.
31:45And she's probably saved hundreds of thousands of crocodiles in this world.
31:50Come on.
31:52Come on, sweetheart.
31:55Come on.
31:59It's almost like Agro knew what we were doing.
32:05And gave us the space to do the job.
32:16Come here.
32:24Hey, dear.
32:26Come here.
32:28We're going to need help.
32:35Me too.
32:45Yeah.
32:48Hey, Wes.
32:50I'm sorry.
33:00Oh, man.
33:10I'm sorry, man.
33:12Really sorry.
33:14Don't you know she made a heck of a difference?
33:26I don't think we've got the ropes.
33:31Here. Come on, girl.
33:34Okay.
33:37Here.
33:42Can you get that gate, Tony?
33:48Here, Wes.
33:53Yeah.
33:59Yeah.
34:01Turn around.
34:06Come on.
34:11It will never cease to amaze me
34:14why Agro or Cookie never came anywhere near us.
34:19They had every single opportunity
34:23to take me and Wes and Terry out.
34:27They knew what was going on with Mary.
34:30And I think her death
34:33is a gift to the world.
34:36And a demonstration
34:39of how animals feel, think, show emotion.
34:45And they know exactly what's going on.
34:49Yeah, I don't know what to do.
34:51I want to find somewhere where we can see her,
34:53where we can see her every day.
34:55It's cool.
34:57People can see her too.
34:59So she can continue to educate
35:02and help crocodiles forever.
35:05Yeah.
35:09Yeah, where's that?
35:11Environmental Park's over there.
35:13Environmental Park's over there.
35:15That'll be a great spot to put her.
35:17What a tough decision.
35:19Where am I going to bury her?
35:23It's got to be somewhere prominent,
35:25close to home.
35:27It's got to be somewhere where we can always remember her.
35:36¶¶
35:44One of the most special memories we have of Mary
35:48was when she was a mother.
35:50Because no crocodile did it better.
35:52She would build her nest
35:54and deposit some 60 or more eggs
35:57and then guard them ferociously.
36:00She was wonderful.
36:02We were lucky enough one year
36:04to actually film her
36:06in the process of laying her eggs.
36:09What you're about to see
36:11is a piece of history in the making,
36:14historical in so many ways.
36:16Mary, well over 100 years of age,
36:19matriarch, true modern-day dinosaur,
36:23laying her eggs.
36:25This is a mariable crocodile.
36:27She's unbelievable.
36:29If you can imagine,
36:31she lays 70 eggs every year.
36:34That's probably 6, maybe 7,000 potential babies
36:39this one crocodile has put back into the ecosystem.
36:44We've got to be the luckiest guys in the zoo.
36:53My favourite memory of Mary
36:56happened way back when I first came to Australia.
36:59Steve decided to show me
37:01all about raiding a female crocodile's nest.
37:05Of all the crocs he could have picked,
37:07he decided to choose
37:09the largest, most ferocious, tenacious mother
37:12in the entire zoo.
37:14Mary would fairly fly off that nest defending it.
37:18So Steve would have Mary attack him
37:21while I had to sneak in and remove the eggs,
37:24careful not to tip any of them.
37:27Now while all this was going on,
37:29the male crocodile was buying into it as well.
37:32So this had to be one of my most special
37:35and scary memories.
37:37Watch this.
37:39Scary, 1992.
37:42Mary in her prime, not even a Tyrannosaurus Rex
37:46would have tried to get Mary's eggs.
37:49Not a hope.
37:53So defensive.
37:55The maternal instinct so strong
37:58she would defend her nest with her life.
38:02And she's one big shill.
38:07Big head, big teeth, big power.
38:11Now that I've got Mary's attention,
38:14or maybe not.
38:17Come on, Mary.
38:19Look at young Steve-o back in 1992.
38:26Now I think I've got her attention.
38:29Come on, Mary.
38:32Come on, dinosaur mummy.
38:38She's a funny girl, that Mary.
38:43Listen to her.
38:45Oh gosh, she's a good mum.
38:49Every year the greatest battle we ever had
38:53was trying to get this mum's eggs.
38:59No, I'm a dinosaur and I'm guarding my eggs.
39:02Get away with your silly buckets.
39:05Have a look at that for a head.
39:08What a wild looking sheila.
39:11It's okay, it's okay, sweetheart.
39:13Don't push and peel.
39:15Don't push and peel.
39:17Here we go.
39:19Okay, Terry, get them.
39:28Terry has to carefully place each of the eggs in a bucket
39:32so as they don't tip one way or the other
39:35or the embryos will drown in the fluid.
39:42She's got them.
39:46You're a good girl.
39:48Out, Terry. Go, mate, go.
39:50Look at that, a bucket full.
39:52She's a dinosaur mum.
39:56Good work, sweetheart.
39:59Mary was buried with the same respect and admiration
40:04that she was showed while she was alive
40:07and we all took time to say goodbye to her.
40:11All my life, I was taught to treat my animals and people
40:17the way I'd want to be treated.
40:20So Wes and I caught Mary out of the bush.
40:23So it was Wes and I who digged the hole to bury her
40:29in her territory, right next to her favourite nest site.
40:34We thought that would be the most fitting place
40:37for such a special girl.
40:45It doesn't get any harder nor heart-wrenching than this.
40:51Still, to this day, I can't believe we're able to dig a hole,
40:57seven people were able to walk in there
41:00and put her in there and Agro did nothing.
41:05I can't believe it.
41:07I can't believe it.
41:09I can't believe it.
41:11I can't believe it.
41:13I can't believe it.
41:15I can't believe it.
41:17And Agro did nothing.
41:20Just watched.
41:35And now for a burial ceremony from the heart.
41:40I need to share in this moment
41:43for our very special friend Mary
41:46who came to Australia Zoo
41:49as she was already over 100 years of age.
41:52She has been the greatest gift to crocodile conservation in this world.
41:59And it is with great pride and honour
42:02that I share this moment with you and her.
42:06Wes and I made a huge decision to bring her in here
42:09with her friends and her family
42:13so that every single time we come in to Agro's territory
42:19we can share a space with this very important girl.
42:25She will continue to educate people about conservation
42:29when I'm in that hole over there.
42:33And it's a very sad moment
42:38because I love her so much.
42:44I just love every single one of you
42:47and I know you love our Mary.
42:52And I want to grab a handful of dirt and throw it on
42:57because it's the last time you're going to see her like this.
43:02Good luck, sweetheart.
43:08Thanks very much.
43:12You can be sure of one thing.
43:13We're all going to get on.
43:15We're all going this way.
43:17And it's a beautiful thing.
43:18I'm just really, really sad.
43:20I'm sorry about my tears running.
43:22It's just the way it is.
43:23We're here.
43:27I'm just really, really sad.
43:29I'm sorry about my tears running.
43:31It's just the way it is.
43:32We're here.
43:33It's just the way it is.
43:34We're here.
43:38We'll all miss Mary, but her legacy lives on.
43:43Thousands of baby crocodiles,
43:45some of them growing up at Australia Zoo,
43:48will continue to educate people
43:50about the importance and the plight
43:53of the saltwater crocodile.
44:08I am so sincerely sorry for being so sad.
44:14But anyone that has had a pet
44:17or an animal they've loved for years
44:20knows this pain.