Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Crocodile caught on Vanuatu’s Maewo island

Posted at 03:28 on 19 March, 2010 UTC

People on the central Vanuatu island of Maewo have managed to catch and kill a two-meter crocodile after weeks of hunting.

A former parliamentary speaker, Paul Ren Tari, says the reptile was spotted near the rivers and at a beach before it was killed.

Mr Tari says the crocodile was then eaten.

People in Maewo believe that it might have come from the island of Vanualava in the Banks Group in the north.

Vanualava is the only island of Vanuatu with crocodiles which were introduced there by Anglican missionaries from Solomon Islands.

A few years ago, a six-metre crocodile from Vanualava managed to swim to Maewo but Australian experts managed to catch it and return it to Vanualava.