WA policeman recounts surprise encounter with large goanna in Carnarvon
In short:
A country West Australian policeman says an encounter with a nearly 2 metre goanna is one of the wildest jobs he has had on duty.
Police wrangled the reptile from a backyard into the back of a vehicle and later relocated it to a local river.
What's next?
The officers involved hope the goanna will go on to "live its goanna life".
A country policeman in Western Australia's north has described the wrangling of a nearly 2 metre monitor lizard as a "once in a blue moon" encounter.
In body camera footage released of the incident, two Carnarvon police officers can be seen hoisting the hissing goanna by its tail and stowing it in the back of a police wagon before a crowd of onlookers.
"It was a cool experience for me … getting to go learn a bit more about the wildlife and about the nature of the animals in the town," Constable Jack Maraldo said.
"In all honesty, there's no training for this.
"When you're in metro WA, you've got so many resources for reptile recovery and things like that … we just bit the bullet."
Scaly situation
It was during a routine patrol on Sunday that Constable Maraldo and his partner spotted a crowd of people spilling into the street in Carnarvon's west.
"Initially we thought it was a fight or something," he said.
"But as we walk behind to the backyard … there's people on the roof of the shed, there's people on the air conditioning unit."
Police came across a crowd of bystanders near the goanna on Granberry Drive in Brockman. (ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates)
Only four months into his Carnarvon posting, Constable Maraldo acknowledged he had never been in a situation quite like it.
"It's something that we don't do every day up here," he said.
Police say the goanna had been "very aggressive" towards bystanders and tucked itself behind a shed.
After several attempts to encourage it to leave the property, the officers decided to take stronger action.
"One of our worries was there was going to be a kid get bitten, because there were a lot of young kids in the backyard," Constable Maraldo said.
"My partner, who did a lot of the picking up of the reptile, he's had a bit of country experience.
"He was like, 'I can do this'."
Expert applauds police
Wildlife carer Michelle Jones said the reptile likely felt threatened by the amount of people present, causing it to act menacingly.
"They're definitely not aggressive, unless he's already been [frightened]," she said.
"It's just him going, 'Bugger off, I'm trying to defend myself'."
Wildlife carer Michelle Jones says some goannas can grow larger than 2 metres in WA's north. (Supplied: Bryan Fry)
Given the circumstances, Ms Jones was complimentary of police efforts to handle and relocate the goanna.
"No one got bit, no one got hurt, including, obviously, the goanna," she said.
"I reckon he did a great job … most other people would have run a mile."
Ms Jones still advised people to be cautious around goannas, or nyoongarji as they are known in Yinggarda language around Carnarvon.
"Some of our big ones up north are definitely a force to be reckoned with," she said.
'Go live its goanna life'
After a short drive in the wagon, police deposited the goanna along the banks of the Gascoyne River.
Police released the goanna at Chinaman's Pool, a natural billabong near Carnarvon. (ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates)
"We wanted to find a good spot for it to go live its goanna life," Constable Maraldo said.
"It literally flew straight out of the pod when we opened the hatch.
"And yeah, it didn't look back."