7 NEWS (Sydney, Australia) 17 December 13 Rangers seek help to track down crocodile killer in Northern Territory (Alyssa Betts)

Territory rangers are on the hunt for the killer of a big, old crocodile in Darwin's rural area.

Senior ranger Tom Nichols wants help from the public to find whoever shot a 4.6 metre crocodile twice in the head at Marrakai.

"We got a report from blokes who were driving through the area on their way home and they came across the croc," Mr Nichols said.

"They just saw it laying there and they tried to take some photos of it, and they realised that it seemed to be dead so they threw a rock at it and it didn't move.

"So they reported it to us, roughly about 2:00 on Friday afternoon.

"It was shot through the head. There's two bullet holes there."

He says the croc would have been between 50 and 60 years old.

Mr Nichols thinks it was shot some time between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

He says it is probably the third such shooting death they know of this year.

"There's a large fine and also a jail sentence if anyone is convicted. Unfortunately it makes it a bit difficult: we need someone to give us some information because no-one's seen it, or if someone did see it well, no-one's said anything as yet."

Under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, a person faces a maximum fine of $70,500 or up to five years in prison for interfering with wildlife without a permit.

Rangers are also reminding Territorians of the dangers of Top End waters.

A 4.2 metre croc was pulled out of one of Darwin Harbour's 26 permanent traps on Friday.

Mr Nichols said the croc was caught at Hudson Creek, at the bottom end of the harbour, near the industrial area.

"We had no sightings of this one coming into Darwin Harbour," Mr Nichols said.

"He just turned up in one of the traps and we've picked him up on Friday morning."

Anyone with information on the crocodile's death is urged to contact Wildlife Operations on 0401 115 702, or call NT Police.
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