Six long years growing up with an increasingly oppressive, suffocating rubber tire around your neck.
This is the ordeal endured by a crocodile known to all in Palu, a city in Central Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The reptile's nightmare ended this Monday, February 7, thanks to Tili.
The 35-year-old Indonesian, who "can't bear to see an animal suffer", was moved by the situation of the big lizard and decided to help him.
After three weeks of effort, Tili managed to capture the crocodile using live chickens and ducks as bait.
“He managed to escape twice before I caught him,” he says.
Surrounded by many townspeople and after a few minutes of intense effort, he was able to free the animal from its tire using a small saw.
“A lot of people were skeptical and thought I wasn't serious.
I proved them wrong,” says Tili after the rescue.
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Over time, the people of Palu grew fond of the reptile and worried that the tire would tighten around its neck as it grew.
In January 2020, the region's nature protection authorities promised a reward, the nature of which was not specified, to anyone who managed to free him.