SYDNEY, July 31 (Xinhua) -- A crocodile farmer operating near the Australian city of Rockhampton made a terrifying discovery recently, finding an orthopedic plate inside the stomach of a 4.7-meter monster named MJ.
The Koorana Crocodile Farm owner John Lever told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday that "it's the most unusual thing I've ever found."
"Whatever bone he'd taken in that had the operation performed on it, had been eaten away by the crocodile's stomach juices and just left the stainless steel plate with the six screws in it," he explained.
With no readable serial number on the plate to help identify who it may have belonged to, Lever took to the social media Tuesday in the hope that someone might come forward and offer some clues.
"We're trying to track it down to see whether it's one used in the veterinary industry or the medical industry," he said.
While Lever said he is more than happy to hand the plate over to police "if they wanted to do any forensics on it," he added, "I can't see they're going to get anything from this plate."
"It's been in a crocodile's stomach for six years - that we know of - and probably another six to 20 (years) before that."
"We're waiting on the results from (inquiries) overseas, but I might dig him up and take one of his leg bones (to measure his age)."
With mystery surrounding the gruesome discovery, Lever said online sleuths are already working hard to examine the case.
"It's certainly got a lot of interest already since we put it up on Facebook," he said. "The comments are coming in thick and fast."
