Crocodile visits Australian pub

Drinkers at an Outback watering hole may have wondered if perhaps they'd had one too many when they were greeted by a crocodile at the pub's door.

But being good hosts, they did the only polite thing and invited him inside. Patrons taped up its mouth, held it up for a round of photos, then put it in a box near the bar. The saltwater croc was less than a metre long and more a curiosity than a threat to drinkers at the Noonamah Tavern on Sunday.

Saltwater crocodiles, once hunted to near extinction by skinners, have flourished in Australia's tropical north since they became a protected species in the 1970s. The aggressive hunters can grow to nearly five metres and have been known to attack people.

Barmaid Sarah Sparre said Thursday that three patrons spotted the creature outside the pub, grabbed it and brought it inside.

"You could say we were a bit surprised," Sparre said. "He was pretty complacent, easygoing. But we weren't going to test him out."

Sparre said the croc may have escaped from a farm for the animals that was several kilometres away. Wildlife officials took the crocodile to the farm.