It took seven Australian police and wildlife control officers to trap, subdue and tie up a massive 15-foot crocodile in Australia’s Northern Territory Tuesday.
The beast had to be trapped because it had become a “cattle killer” police said, feasting on the herds of ranchers in the Douglas Daly region of the Northern Territories.
“It was causing a ruckus and was a danger to people in the area,” Matt Phillips, multimedia manager with Northern Territories Police, told ABC News in Australia.
WATCH: Police in Australia looking for men who released crocodiles inside high school
The officers had laid a trap for the croc in the waterway of a local rancher. They say the it was trapped on Sunday but was “too angry” to be removed until Wednesday.
As it turns out, their caution was warranted. The crocodile, which measured 4.33-metres in length, proved extremely difficult to remove from the trap. At one point, it almost managed to wriggle free of its captors.
“It was a bit of an unorthodox extraction from the cage due to the situation where it was in a waterhole with limited access,” Police Remote Sergeant Mark Berry told NT News. “He got a little bit away from us but we ended up getting hold of him.
The animal will be moved to Darwin, Australia to join a crocodile breeding program.
WATCH: Wildlife rangers discuss trapping and removing the 15-foot croc