Et Tu, Brute?

Pets. There's no domesticating some of them. Case in point: Peter Shappert, owner of Corroboree Park Tavern, located some 50 miles east of the Northern Australian port city of Darwin, has a pet named Brutus. Now normally that kind of name is given to an animal that could be ferocious, but isn't really. Like a Chihuahua. But Shappert's Brutus is no chihuahua. It's a 14 1/2 foot saltwater crocodile.


On Friday, Brutus was minding his own business when along came Freddy Buckland and his chain saw. Freddy was cleaning debris from a tropical storm and was using a chain saw to cut up a tree that had fallen against a crocodile enclosure at the Corroboree Park Tavern

"As he was trimming up the tree on the outside the croc jumped out of the water and sped along the tree about 18, 20 feet and actually grabbed the chainsaw out of his hands," said Peter Shappert, the tavern's owner, according to an Associated Press report.

"He chewed on the chainsaw for about an hour-and-a-half, then we finally got it out," Shappert said, adding that the saw was destroyed when it finally was retrieved from Brutus' giant jaws.

Neither Buckland nor Brutus were injured. Shappert is considering renaming Brutus to “Two-stroke” in honor of the saw’s fuel.

There are important lessons to be learned from this episode:

1. Sometimes you need to take pet names seriously
2. Taverns having crocodile enclosures belong on your "Places Best Avoided" list.
3. Everyone should know the rules of the children’s game of Croc, Bludgeon, Chainsaw:

• Croc Eats Chainsaw
• Chainsaw cuts through Bludgeon
• Bludgeon bludgeons Croc.

It goes without saying that alligators and crocodiles are dangerous creatures indeed, on any continent, and both on and off the golf course. You should not socialize with them, even at Taverns, and even if those Taverns have seemingly adequate enclosures.