Dane Hirst was getting footage for a documentary about the 50th anniversary of the ban on crocodile hunting in the Northern Territory when the incident happened.
A crocodile not quite ready for his close-up snatched a drone right out of the sky while it was trying to film it . The haunting video was captured by Dane Hirst, a camera operator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
He was getting footage at a wildlife park in Darwin for a documentary about the 50th anniversary of the ban on crocodile hunting in the Northern Territory.
As he lined up what he thought was the perfect shot, the croc had other plans.
"All the crocs were really skittish, but there was one crocodile, in particular, that was holding its ground and really eyeballing that drone," the drone pilot said. "So I thought, great, I'll use this fellow. He's in a stationary spot. I can get some decent shots of him."
This was clearly an experienced predator because before Hirst knew it, his camera was crocodile food.
"I lined the drone up and moved over the top of him," he recalled. "And as I was doing that, I looked up towards the lagoon and saw a crocodile vertical out of the water and heard the great clamping noise of a crocodile's jaws coming together."
Hirst thought he would never see the drone again, but the staff at the park found it washed up on the bank of the lagoon two weeks later. And the staff at the ABC were able to pull the incredible video from the drone's memory card.
The retired chewed-up drone now hangs on a bulletin board at the ABC office as a cautionary tale.
