It's been more than a month since we reported on Caye Caulker's crocodile attack, and back then we told you that bartender and sometimes fisherman Joshua Young was taken into the jaws of a croc while diving and spearfishing on the northside of the split.
It's a story that shocked and frightened both residents and visitors to the island but one that, we felt, hadn't really been told. So yesterday I went to meet Joshua and to hear his incredible story of survival first hand.
Cherisse Halsall
This is the area of the Spilt where Joshua Young was spearfishing when he was attacked by a crocodile bigger than him. But Josh didn't panic; he somehow managed to wrest himself out of the crocodile's jaws. Still, he worries that the next time a croc attacks in this holiday playground, the next victim may not be as lucky.
And yesterday morning we made the trip to Caye Caulker to hear from the still recovering animal attack victim about the moment he chose to fight and live instead of surrender and die.
Joshua Young, Victim of Crocodile Attack
"I dove down and like I said the current was strong but when I dove down it got clear, so my intention was when I go up current and then dive down and come swimming underwater and shoot what I could see you know but that didn't go as planned."
"It felt like a canoe or something like a log or something - so I looked up to see what it was but I didn't see anything so I put my head back down and I just felt something just latched onto me. Like with no warning, it just latched on."
Cherisse Halsall:
"To your head?"
Joshua Young, Victim of Crocodile Attack
"To my head, like it bumped into the side of me and then I looked up and as I put my head back down it latched on and I was like what the hell I was like what's going on and immediately like I just grabbed the jaws because I was like shit this can't be happening so I just grabbed the jaws."
"At that moment I realized that it was a crocodile and I grabbed on to it's mouth as the current is pulling me and it out to sea, I tried my best to like kick because I was swallowing water, taking in water and I was like face down in the snout and then I managed to pry its mouth just a little bit to get my head vertically up and to swim with this thing attached to me."
"It felt like it was trying to roll but I just had it so it couldn't rotate. I wasn't even panicking or anything like that I was more like this can't be happening like no this is not real and all I was thinking about was getting back to land to take it off because I didn't want to like, at this point I didn't want to die."
"When I got to land I was in shallow water like here and in my head i think if I can't really pry it open I had to put my - in its mouth and try to push with both hands to get it off and figure it out after it got off my head."
"Then it felt like it was adjusting it's mouth is when I had a slight chance just like to push and that's why I have a really gnarly scar."
"Somehow I got over it and I tried to pull up like that and then slide my hand out and when I did that I bolted to the land and then it still tried to come up and latched to my side, when it latched there it just grabbed the wet SUIT THAT I HAD ON AND TORE THAT OFF AND THEN IT backed up and just ran from the edge on the other side."
And lucky for Josh his friend Cecilio Gallego was able to help him get back to the southside of the island for urgent medical care:
Cecilio Gallego, Josh's friend/ rescuer
"I actually saw the face it was my friend Joshso he walked up to me and told me politely like bwoy I got bit and I was like let's go bra because he was bleeding all the way down to his face was pouring right so we hurry rush the man in."
"We managed to get him to the split at the same time I had my cart right so I told him jump on the cart."
"On the way there mein, a couple times he fainted because it was too much blood, he lost a lot of blood."
We wanted to get some context for what seems like a freak attack and for that we consulted Crococodlie Research Coalition founder Marissa Tellez who has made a case study of Joshua Young's story.
Marissa Tellez, Crocodile Research Coalition
"This might not have been necessarily a problem of the crocodile or the behaviour of the crocodile but possibly the bad behaviour of humans and the reason that I state this is that there have been some residents of Caye Caulker that reached out to me and right after this attack and even before the attack and there were concerns of people directly feeding crocodiles in the area and you know it might be someone wants a couple of extra bucks, sees some tourists on the beach and is like hey you want to see some crocodiles."
"This habituates the crocodile, the crocodile starts to associate people with food, they lose their fear of humans and this is when it can attack happens."
Cecilio Gallego, Josh's friend/ rescuer
"I swim there a lot, I do a lot of spearfishing there and I have never seen a crocodile in the day so I guess. it was a coincidence that the crocodile was probably passing through, right like I said I've never seen a crocodile around there so I think it's safe, I just went the other day to shoot fish so I think it's safe I haven't seen any crocodile."
And what's to be the fate of the resident crocodile gone rogue that nearly cost Josh his life?
Marissa Tellez
"From my last discussion with authorities the crocodile that attacked Josh has not been caught. And so I absolutely understand the concerns of the community, because now you have this crocodile that has attack humans. Now, if not that, he has the taste of humans like he's only going to go after people now. It is possible because Josh also fought the crocodile, that this crocodile is like ugh I gotta stay away from people. I do believe for the safety of the community that the crocodile should be caught. Now it might not necessarily be put down, it could be taken to a facility where it could be utilized for education possibly if that is okay with forest department. In some countries when a crocodile does attack humans, they do euthanize the animal. So there's 2 scenarios that can happen for this particular crocodile. Maybe let's try not to go fishing around the split right now."
"Right now we would just want to, I think it would be important to have someone on watch especially with this mating season right now and then just be conscious about some of the fishing activities especially fishing at night now so that you aren't attracting crocodiles to that particular area."
And with the community on alert the only thing Joshua Young can do now is try to move on and return to the carefree life he once lived on La isla Carinosa
Joshua Young, Victim of Crocodile Attack
"Mentally, I am not quite sure because I have not been in the water since the incident has happened but physically I am definitely almost back to 100% soon I'll be going back to work although waiting for my hand to heal a little bit more better so that I can grip things have more of a grip on things."
And work aside, life will be a lot more normal for Josh when he gets back a particular feature that he lost due to the attack.
Cherisse Halsall:
"Will you be growing back the dreads?"
Joshua Young, Victim of Crocodile Attack
"I will be growing back those dreds again."
As we told you when we initially reported on Joshua Young's story, "The Department of Forestry is working with ACES Wildlife Rescue to search for and capture the crocodile. In the meantime the department has reminded residents of the following safety habits: don't feed crocs, as it can cause them to lose their fear of humans; don't dispose of fish carcasses nearby or in areas where fishing; put garbage in its proper place, not in the water or near to it; and leave crocodiles alone - keep your distance and do not try to capture or interfere with them.
Notably, this is currently nesting season for crocodiles, and compounded with loss of habitat, female crocs tend to be very territorial.
