President Obama’s visit to Australia’s Northern Territory involved the receipt of a unique gift, as the American head of state was given an insurance policy against an attack by a crocodile.
The Northern Territory’s chief minister, Paul Henderson, announced that the American president would receive a government insurance policy that would pay up to $50,000 (AUD) should he be the victim of a crocodile attack.
Henderson stated that the president would be receiving total coverage against the unlikely event that there should be a crocodile attack during his stay in the Northern Territory. He explained that “if he gets too close to the cliff’s edge there overlooking the harbor, he will have insurance in the event of any crocodile attack.”
Obama was to receive the paperwork for the policy upon his arrival in the town of Darwin. Henderson explained that while he knows that the president travels around the world and has received many different kinds of gifts, he’s quite certain that this will be the first present of this nature that Obama will have received, and that “it’ll look pretty good in the presidential library.”
Australia’s Northern Territory is known to be crocodile country and Darwin is its capital. As such, it is the home of a large percentage of the salt water species of crocodiles, which can be quite deadly when they choose to attack.
On average, salt water crocodiles kill two people in Australia every year. These reptiles can weigh over 2,200 pounds and can be up to 23 feet in length.
