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Police confirm 5-year-old boy killed by crocodile
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-18 09:34

CANBERRA, Australia – A boy who vanished from an Australian river edge last week was eaten by a crocodile, police said late Tuesday.

The remains of 5-year-old Jeremy Doble were found in the stomach of a 14-foot (4.3-meter), male crocodile trapped in the flooded Daintree River — an international attraction for ecotourists — near where the boy went missing Feb. 8, the police statement said.

Jeremy was playing with his 7-year-old brother, Ryan, and their dog behind their family property in a flooded mangrove swamp when he disappeared. Ryan told officers that he saw a crocodile immediately after missing his brother but did not see an attack, police said.

A 10-foot (3-meter), female crocodile was trapped last week but released after a non-lethal surgical procedure found no evidence that it had attacked a human.

Police were unable to say Wednesday what would happen to the male crocodile, whose stomach contents also were examined by the non-lethal procedure.

Federal law has protected crocodiles since 1971, and their numbers have grown steadily in Australia's tropical waters, but regulations permit authorities to destroy crocodiles that threaten humans.