Judge Smails
02-27-2006, 04:30 PM
<p>I'll put my Crocodile Granny up against Tall James' Polar Bear Hockey Mom any day of the week.</p><p>Story: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060227/od_afp/australiaanimalcrocodileoffbeat_060227004045">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060227/od_afp/australiaanimalcrocodileoffbeat_060227004045</a></p><p><strong><font size="2">Grandmother honoured for wrestling crocodile </font></strong></p><p>SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian grandmother was honoured with a bravery award for wrestling a giant saltwater crocodile as it dragged her friend from a tent. </p><p>Alicia Sorohan, 61, was awoken in the early hours of the morning of October 11, 2004 by the screams of family friend Andrew Kerr in a nearby tent at their campsite on the northern Cape York peninsular.</p><p>Seeing her friend in the jaws of a 4.2 metre (14-foot), 300 kilogram (660 pound) crocodile, Sorohan "did what anyone would do" and jumped on its back.</p><p>The man-eater then turned on her, breaking her nose and almost ripping her arm off before her son Jason shot it.</p><p>"It was pretty scary. But it's one of those things -- if you see someone in trouble you've got to help them," Sorohan said. "He was a big one. But I would do the same thing again."</p><p>She still does not have full movement in her arm, which was "hanging by a thread".</p><p>"I almost lost it. I've got two permanent plates and 12 screws in my arm. But I can do all I could do before -- where there's a will there's a way."</p><p>The family returned to the same campsite last October.</p><p>"Why not keep going back? There's risk everywhere. You could get run over by a bus if you walk across the road."</p><p>But, she added, "I was told to behave myself and protect the wildlife this time."</p><p>Sorohan was one of three people awarded Australia's Star of Courage, which recognises citizens for acts of outstanding bravery.</p>