Prince Harry Helps Catch 10-Foot Crocodile in Australia
Prince Harry was on a month-long deployment with the Australian army.
— -- Britain’s Prince Harry was known as "Captain Wales" during his recent month-long deployment with the Australian Army, but the royal could have worn another title: Crocodile hunter.
Newly released photos show 30-year-old Harry helping to reel in a 10-foot crocodile from a trap in Australia’s Darwin Harbour.
The photos were released by the Northern Territory Government on Australia from Prince Harry’s visit with the Crocodile Management Team there.
One of the photos shows Harry sitting atop the captured crocodile – holding the crocodile’s mouth shut with a rope – while another shows the “before” shot of Harry reeling the crocodile in.
“I was a little nervous at first when I was getting the snout rope on the croc, because Harry was observing so closely,” wildlife ranger Erin Britton told The Australian.
“But he was so easygoing that I relaxed pretty quickly,” Britton said of Harry. “There’s no doubt he enjoyed the experience, taking plenty of photos with a huge smile.”
The fifth-in-line to the British throne, spent a month deployed with troops in Australia as he prepares to end his own military career at the end of this month.
The young royal capped his stay in Australia with a week-long tour of neighboring New Zealand, where he performed a traditional haka war dance with soldiers, paddled a canoe and met with school children, among other appearances.
On his last day in New Zealand, the athletic prince scored the winning goal in a friendly soccer game, the Associated Press reported.
“I think it's unfair to put a highlight on such an amazing trip," Prince Harry said when asked to name his favorite New Zealand moment. “It has been fantastic. The welcome that I've had has been typically Kiwi I suppose. I couldn't have asked for a better reception."
Prince Harry returned to the United Kingdom over the weekend and was already back to his royal duties on Monday, attending the Chelsea Flower Show in London, where he saw a garden inspired by a children’s hospital in Lesotho, the South African nation where Prince Harry co-founded an AIDs charity, Sentebale.