Four men who planned to abduct a koala from Rockhampton (Queensland) Zoo and trade it for drugs abandoned the heist when the animal proved to be extremely vicious and inflicted numerous wounds on the would-be abductors. The thieves, who are obviously no Einsteins, stole a furious 40-kg freshwater crocodile instead, somehow manhandling it over a 1.2-metre fence. The croc is still missing.

Why does this sound like something out of a Carl Hiassen novel?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...441187263.html

Neil, I have just finished reading about this in the SMH download that I receive each morning. How hysterical was this ??
Not great for the crocodile of course, but it does take me back to many many years ago, when on holidays, being forced by my parents to visit a Koala park in Brisbane, where you can hold the Koala and have your photo taken with it. All very well until the damn thing pees on you and scratches the living bjesus out of your arms. Never again. They may look doped to the eyeballs, but they are vicious, mean and deserving of the term "drop bears".........

So do you think the Croc will show up and the thieves will still be 'missing'.? that would be poetic justice.

I just watched a report on ABC News and it was described as a possible prank. There was no mention at all of the koala, but I agree with jjah that they're nasty little beasts. Two women have been arrested. The police are still on the trail of their dopey accomplices and also the crocodile, which if anything would be even nastier. Its hide and meat is worth nothing, and it's hard to see any pet shop taking it. Sounds like a hard way to score dope, that's all I can say.

But Neil, the crocodile did score dope didn't he??

That croc was only a freshie, not a saltie which could do some real damage. Some people have no idea what to steal .....

Nothing much happens in Rocky, the meat capital of Queensland, so this is pretty exciting stuff. The main sport previous to this heist was removing the testicles from the replicas of bulls which grace the city from one end to another.

Perhaps it wasn't a prank but was done by the brothers of the Australian Dumb and Dumber robbers who tried to rob a bank in the US. Or perhaps it was just a normal Rockhampton resident - you would have to be crazy to live there!

I noticed that today's print edition of the SMH had 'downsized' the story to a tiny item with no mention of koalas or drugs. Maybe somebody fed their Rockhampton stringer a line at the pub.

perhaps, its part of "So where the bloody are ya?:

A/D

Latest news: 4 people apprehended for theft of female croc, but croc is still missing. Spokesman from Rockhampton Zoo is distributing photos of the missing croc - in the vain hope that someone may recognise it. "This has put Rockhampton on the map" he said with news reports from as far afield as Toronto and London.

And no koala, and no evidence that the croc was sold for drugs.

All this just goes to support what my dad used to tell me - "believe half of what you see and none of what you read".