Outback Wrangler Matt Wright has opened up about his decision to adopt a famous saltwater crocodile once owned by a disgraced zoologist who raped, tortured and murdered dozens of dogs.
British crocodile expert Adam Britton, 53, was sentenced to ten years in prison in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in August after pleading guilty to 63 counts of bestiality, animal cruelty and possession of child abuse material.
Britton, who once welcomed Sir David Attenborough into his home, obtained the dogs from Gumtree Australia over a two-year period for the sole purpose of torturing them to death on camera.
When police raided his McMinns Lagoon property in 2022, they found a disturbing array of cameras, external hard drives, tools, weapons, dog paraphernalia and sex toys.
They also found severed dog limbs in a large freezer, a decomposing puppy in a pond on the property and a severed dog head on a neighboring property.
His ex-wife Erin, who spent a lot of time on work expeditions and was unaware of Britton’s antics until police called her, recently told 60 Minutes that he was likely feeding dog scraps to his pet crocodile Smaug.
After Britton’s horror was exposed, Smaug was taken to live on a property owned by Wright, who became famous for several television series about his conservation efforts, particularly with crocodiles.
Now, Wright has told Daily Mail Australia that Smaug is a “happy crocodile” whose diet includes chicken, feral pigs, roadkill, fresh fish and beef as treats – a far cry from the rotting dog carcasses he was dealing with. used to.
Adam Britton (centre) with his wife Erin (left) and David Attenborough (right) during the filming of a BBC documentary
Outback Wrangler Matt Wright (pictured with a different alligator) adopted Smaug, Britton’s famous saltwater crocodile.
“He is doing very well and is one of the healthiest crocodiles we have,” Wright said.
“However, he doesn’t back down when it comes to moving forward and we have reinforced his pen because every time you get close it shoots up.
“We are planning to build him a bigger pen soon.”
Britton and Erin used to run their own consulting company, Big Gecko, which sold images of crocodiles to film and television directors. They worked with natural history programs on the BBC and National Geographic.
Smaug became a celebrity in his field and appeared in two horror films.
During the Covid lockdown in 2020, the former husband and wife duo filmed themselves feeding a freshwater crocodile named Njall on their property.
In the video, Britton looked at the camera and said: ‘Hi everyone, this is Adam. Well, now we are home and we have to feed the crocodiles.
“So what I’m going to do is hand this camera to Erin.”
Pictured: Smaug the saltwater crocodile on a property in the NT owned by Matt Wright.
Matt Wright said Smaug (pictured) is one of his healthiest crocodiles.
She smiled at the lens and said enthusiastically: “Hi everyone,” before grabbing the camera and filming Britton feeding Njall chicken legs with a pair of large tongs.
During the 60 Minutes episode, Erin said she was in a state of disbelief when police told her what Britton was doing to the dogs while she was on expeditions.
“When he told me it was bestiality, my brain seemed to deny it,” he said.
‘Hearing that information is the most horrible thing you can ever hear about your partner. It was so shocking and I felt bad. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think.
“My brain was having trouble processing and understanding how such a horrible thing could exist in the world.”
Last year, Britton pleaded guilty to 63 counts of animal abuse, bestiality and possession of child exploitation material.
Adam Britton is pictured with his ex-wife, Erin. They were married for at least 15 years.
He confessed to killing at least 39 dogs he called “shit toys”, filming the abuse of puppies and sharing his depraved interests under pseudonyms online.
Britton also sexually abused his own pet Swiss Shepherds, Ursa and Bolt, for almost a decade until he finally turned to Gumtree Australia to get more dogs to kill.
Until his arrest in 2022, he managed to keep his disturbing fantasies a secret.
In a message read to the court, Britton spoke about his impulses to a stranger on Telegram: ‘I had repressed it. In recent years I let it go again and now I can’t stop. I don’t want to.’
Many of his crimes against animals were so graphic and disturbing that Daily Mail Australia decided not to publish them.