”The water had receded and it was down to this dirty water in the middle. I took two steps and the dirty bastard latched onto my right foot,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“It was a big grab and he shook me like a rag doll and took off back into the water, pulling me in.
”The rancher, who is in his sixties, fought back, trying to kick the crocodile in its ribs. When that had little effect, he decided to bite the creature.
”I was in such an awkward position ... but by accident my teeth caught his eyelid. It was pretty thick, like holding onto leather, but I jerked back on his eyelid and he let go. It all happened in about eight seconds I reckon. If he’d bitten me somewhere else it would have been different.”
He said he had “no choice” but to bite the crocodile so that it would release his right foot from its bite.
”My teeth slipped and I got hold of the eyelids, really by accident … I jerked back on that and he let go. I just leapt away from him, just stood up and took off, towards where my car was. He chased me three or four metres but then he stopped.”
He struggled out of the billabong, with the crocodile following him. But after a few paces, the animal gave up and returned to the water. Deveraux reached his vehicle and used rope and a towel to try to staunch the bleeding in his foot and leg. His brother drove him 80 miles to hospital in the town of Palmerston, east of the Northern Territory capital Darwin, where he has been recovering for nearly a month.
He received a skin graft and hopes to leave hospital this week. The attack happened near the Finniss River, a large river system that is known for its population of saltwater crocodiles.
A 22-year-old man was attacked and killed by a 13ft-long crocodile in the river 20 years ago. Brett Mann lost his footing on the river bank, fell into the water and was attacked by the reptile.
His two friends, both aged 19, spent 22 hours perched in a tree as the crocodile swam beneath, stalking them, with the body of Mann in its jaws. The three young men were on a quad-biking trip when the tragedy occurred.
Decades of hunting drove saltwater crocodiles to the edge of extinction but they have been protected since the 1970s.
Since then, the population has recovered dramatically and there are now estimated to be around 200,000 saltwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia. Adult males can grow to 20ft in length and prey on a wide range of animals, from livestock such as cattle to kangaroos, other crocodiles and even sharks.
