Australian Reptile Park

The Australian Reptile Park is located at Somersby on the Central Coast, New South Wales in Australia. The park is home to a variety of reptiles, including snakes, lizards and crocodiles, as well as other Australian animals, such as kangaroos, cassowaries and Tasmanian Devils.

The park is heavily involved in snake and spider venom collection for use in the production of anti-venom and is credited for saving the lives of thousands.

History

The park was founded by Eric Worrell. Its original location was at Wyoming, New South Wales.

"Ploddy"

The park is home to a large replica diplodocus initially named "Dino", sometimes said to be the very first of Australia's Big Things. This structure had portions of its legs removed and was moved to Somersby when the park changed location. In the light of additional media attention the dinosaur was renamed "Ploddy".

Eric the crocodile

A crocodile named Eric featured for many years at the park. Eric was born in 1947 in Australia's Northern Territory and had been implicated in the disappearance of two indigenous children in the 1980s.

Eric was captured for the safety of the community and taken to Darwin Crocodile Farm where his welcome rapidly wore thin. Eric bit off the heads of two female crocodiles with whom he was supposed to mate and lost his right rear foot in a duel with a fellow crocodile.

In 1989 he arrived by special freighter jet at the Australian Reptile Park and became a major attraction. He was named after the park's founder Eric Worrel who had died in 1987.

Eric was a star attraction with a fan club of over 10,000 members across the world. Every year Eric consumed his own body weight of various animals such as chicken, goat and fish.

The fire

Just past midnight on 17 July 2000, a faulty electrical connection led to a devastating fire that consumed most of the main building of the Australian Reptile Park. Fire crews were initially joined by park staff in a brave, but hopeless effort to stem the spread of the blaze. Overnight, the future of the world-famous attraction - which had been a national tourism award winner for the previous two years, became uncertain.

Eric's death

Eric the crocodile died on 30 June 2007 from a systemic infection, which was exacerbated as staff couldn't treat him during the recent storms in the area. Eric's vet, Peter Nosworthy, believes age made him susceptible to the infection which took his life, while his size made it impossible to administer intensive care. Combined with the loss of power to the park over the long weekend storms and subsequent adverse weather, Dr Nosworthy said it was a battle that proved too difficult for the ageing crocodile. A memorial to Eric is now at the rear of the park.

At 5.6m long and 700kg, Eric was the largest crocodile in New South Wales and the star of the park at the time of his death.

Eric now also has a sucssecor called Elvis the who arrived at the park in September 2007.

ee also

*Sydney-Newcastle Freeway

External links

* [http://www.reptilepark.com.au/ Australian Reptile Park]
* [http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21999290-5001021,00.html http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21999290-5001021,00.html]
* [http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22001655-17001,00.html http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22001655-17001,00.html]