Croc cuts lawnmower's grass

Zookeeper Billy Collett was one of two men attacked by a five-metre croc named Elvis at a reptile park north of Sydney after they went into its enclosure about 8am today.

The men - who used their lawnmowers as a barrier when the hulking beast lunged - escaped unharmed, before later executing a daring rescue mission to retrieve the mower.

"It happened that fast, it was that scary. I'm just glad to be alive," Mr Collett told reporters in Gosford.

"We'd just started mowing, the croc's sitting about five foot away from me in the water, then next second he's attached to the end of the mower, dragging it in, and almost taking me into the drink with him.

"My heart almost jumped out of my chest."

Tim Faulkner, who was also inside the enclosure at the time of the attack, said his co-worker was lucky to be alive.

"I had to scream at Billy to let the mower go, because he was thinking about the mower preservation more than his own self-preservation," Mr Faulkner told reporters.

"The croc obviously had a hold of it and both of them would have gone in the water.

"When a croc's got something like that you let him have it ... it's 500 kilos of muscle."

Elvis - who lost two teeth in the encounter with the mower - was acquired by the park in 2008 after causing grief in Darwin harbour by climbing onto fishing boats.

Some of the croc's teeth measure up to 9cm in length.

Brush-tailed rock wallaby sanctuary saving species

While the Tasmanian tiger is gone forever everyone can do their bit to help out other threatened species. Waterfall Springs Wildlife Sanctuary and Foundation has been working hard to help out the endangered brush-tailed rock wallaby.

The Waterfall Springs breeding program is about building a healthy captive population of animals for release back into safe wild habitats.

It is a major part of the Australian Government’s national brush-tailed rock-wallaby recovery plan to ensure the long-term survival of the species, listed as the sixth most threatened macropod in Australia.

The sanctuary successfully released captive wallabies into the wild in April and plans another release later this month.

There have also been 12 new animal enclosures and an education facility built at the sanctuary.

One way the public can help threatened species is to join its new volunteer group the Friends Of Waterfall Springs.

The group’s program aims is to provide volunteer support to the sanctuary so it can continue to support brush-tailed rock-wallaby conservation through the endangered species captive breeding program.

Inquiries: 4376 1066.