KILLER INSTINCT

PRODUCTION JOURNAL

2^ND February 2002

 

Six episodes of Killer Instinct with Rob Bredl have become thirty nine.

And now a new adventure begins.

Killer Instinct is a lively television series centring on the behaviour of one of the animal world’s most dynamic hunters. Following the original six episodes airing in Europe early in 2001 now the adventure continues with 33 more episodes to air on the Outdoor Life Network, USA.   

 

We journey with a man who has true animal magnetism, Rob Bredl, as he takes us up close and personal with animals using their power, cunning and special abilities to survive. Rob’s specialty is being absolutely in tune with the animals he takes us to meet. He expertly handles snakes, crocodiles, lizards, spiders and a whole menagerie more. 

 

The series concentrates on the animals that hunt and kill to survive; using their superbly adapted senses and agility. Rob Bredl’s journey is to discover and educate on the killer instinct that drives these animals big and small.

Production journal as at 1^st Feb 2002...

 

Already on the road and “bush bashing” for six weeks, Rob and the crew first traveled to one of the last great wildernesses. Cape York Peninsula is in the northern region of Australia and is as close to the equator as Australia gets. Facing scorching summer conditions of up to 50 degrees Celsius, that’s 122 Fahrenheit plus high humidity, Rob went in search of freshwater crocodiles or “freshies” as their known. Finding a remote water-filled gorge near Laura, Rob spotted crocodile tracks on the sand bank… and the hunt was on. Freshwater crocs aren’t as dangerous as their extremely aggressive saltwater cousins but, as Rob says.. “I don’t care how `relatively harmless’ they’re claimed to be... you wouldn’t want to tackle a big one in the water.” But even with that in mind Rob still went snorkeling for smaller freshies in the murky waters. Poking around in underwater holes Rob soon found what he was looking for and manhandles them to the surface for a close up look at these prehistoric throwbacks. He also came across a magnificent water python hiding under a rock shelf. These snakes are known to the aborigines as the sacred rainbow serpent; maker of all rivers and lakes in the area. After digging up burrowing frogs and swimming with crocs and even snakes it was time to get on the move again.

It was in western Queensland that Rob was on the prowl for one of Australia’s famous long lizards, the Lace monitor. He bagged a large specimen but not before the lightning fast lizard spun its head around and merely brushed his captor’s arm with its razor teeth. Laughing with a six foot lizard in his hand, Rob described the creature while blood oozed from his arm. It’s been said a bite from one of these creatures will never heal. “Another myth to be destroyed”, muses Rob as he washes the blood from his already much scarred arm. 

It was then back to his own wildlife park at Airlie Beach where he was filming a descriptive scene for episode one in the series; “Face to Face with the Killer Instinct.” He was demonstrating his skills with one of his own saltwater crocodiles, Galloper, when the 16 foot long monster suddenly spun around and chomped Rob on the foot. It was quick reflexes that avoided his whole leg being taken and thus Rob himself being wholly dragged into the water. On the way to the hospital Rob, in his usual high cheeky spirits, tells us that it was ONLY his 29^th bite in 30 years…”I call them love bites” he says. Even while he was getting 10 stitches in the hole though his foot he describes what went wrong for the camera. “It’s nesting season and they all get pretty aggressive at this time.” explains Rob, “… I was using my stick to keep his eyes closed as I walked past him, but my foot slightly brushed one of his toes… of course he then knew where I was and millions of years of instinct kicked in and he made a lunge for lunch…me!” 

Always going barefoot, but now with one bandaged up, Rob just got on with the business he loves; catching, tending, describing and releasing the animals he loves. It’s never a case of worrying about “getting back on the horse” with Rob, even though it’s usually a giant crocodile he rides. “It was a momentary flash of aggression from Galloper to get something to eat,” says Rob, “It was my fault, I got in the way, but I’ll be working with him again tomorrow just like always... he’ll try to eat me again and I’ll just have to be quicker still.”  Rob’s no stranger to encounters like this, working this closely with wild animals even the best handlers get nailed occasionally… even Rob Bredl who’s been on the wrong end of three bites from some of the deadliest snakes on Earth. “I don’t go out to get munched on!” he laughs, “…it’s one of the hazards of the business and I must be doing something right; I’ve still got ten fingers and ten toes…just”

It was on the road again to South Australia, at the bottom end of the continent, to chase up the Dingo… all dogs are said to be descended from wolves but the first “wolf” to be domesticated was the dingo and is now known to be the original “dog.” No animal on earth has been so despised with governments legislating its total eradication. It’s true the dingo hasn’t helped its cause with terrifying encounters like the Azaria Chamberlain case that spawned the movie “A Cry in the Dark,” and just last year another young boy was mauled to death by wild dingoes. Rob has dingoes as pets in his wildlife park and he travels south with a sample of their DNA to better understand the purity of their genes and their true lineage. He found high aggression alongside faithful companionship, this is the world of the dingo; the original dog still full of the killer instinct.

Rob then stayed in the southern region of Australia to go hunting Numbats for the Killer Instinct program titled “Marsupial Carnivores.” “Australia has a wealth of amazing animals seen nowhere else in the world,” states Rob, “…and with names like Numbats, Dunnarts, Quolls, Phascogales, Planigales and Antechinus, you’ll agree they’re the fierce little fur balls you’ve never heard of.”  His hunt for the Numbat sees Robbie joining in with the world’s only breeding program for these animals and an actual capture and collaring of a Numbat with pouch young; a rare find that proves things are looking good for the species. “They came as close to extinction as you can get,” says Rob, “…but the people at Yookamurra have brought their numbers back by catching, radio collaring, breeding and studying these aggressive marsupials.”     

The whole range of these amazing little animals feature high aggression matched only by their metabolic rates. Hunting and stalking their prey is like watching a lion or tiger hunt… only in fast forward. Rob shows us their needle-like fangs and ponders their roots in a harsh land where once their prehistoric ancestors where lumbering giants compared with their modern, high speed counterparts. Rob also searches for answers to the claims of the extinct and fearsome “Marsupial Lion” being an equal of the famed saber-toothed tiger.

Back on the road it was time for Rob to take a break and get something to eat. He’s in the middle of what looks like nowhere and no MacDonald’s for 100’s of kilometers, but Rob, an experienced bushman, shows us how to feast when there’s nothing but a fire and your own wits. For the Killer Instinct cameras Rob prepares a feast by first hunting, catching and preparing Mud Crab, Barramundi Sausage, steamed Welks and…Rat.

Rob grimly states.. “If you’re going to survive out here it helps to know what you can and can’t eat and where to find it… there were tragic stories during the Second World War where American airmen survived plane crashes in northern Australia only to starve to death when there was food all around them.”

Rob’s bush tucker meal, while not always the most palatable looking fare, has kept the aboriginal race alive for over 40,000 years so something’s got to be working…. besides we’re reminded, as Rob chomps into a freshly roasted bush rat like a corn cob, that rat meat is high in vitamin C!

Rob is currently traveling to hunt down Urban Birds of Prey. We may think we’ve urbanized and “civilized” an area but Magpies, Crows, Kookaburras, Owls and Butcherbirds continue stalking and killing prey to survive… it maybe the “friendly” suburbs but Rob shows us the murder going on all around us. Then to the oceans where right now in Australia we’re seeing record stings and even deaths from ocean drifters like Box Jellyfish, Irukandjis, Portuguese Man o’ War, Stonefish and blue ringed octopus. Rob wades out to bring us all close to “Ocean Venom.”

Then it’s back to more of what Rob calls his “pets” as he literally gets all wrapped up in Australian Pythons.

Rob’s personal story of adventure is also uncovered in episode one with the discovery of rare footage of Rob as a boy hunting for snakes and lizards with his brothers and inspirational herpetologist father Joe Bredl. There’s also film documentation of Rob becoming the crocodile man he is today with the early catches, breeding and release techniques for the first crocodile farm in Australia founded by Rob and his father Joe.

LATEST NEWS-

Amazing footage of Rob handling the 4^th deadliest snake in the world, the King Brown. Rob was describing the attack techniques and even the “run away behavior” of this frightening snake when it turned in an instant and lunged back at Rob. Without pausing for breath Rob instantly describes his technique of standing still in such an attack. He does this as the snake propels itself at Rob’s legs… judging Rob’s static legs are part of the landscape (what prey would be silly enough to stand still?) it falls harmlessly to the ground between Rob’s legs. Rob then had to move after this first strike because the snake was now close enough to strike successfully. Rob moves out of the way… the snake sees the movement and strikes again… missing Rob by millimeters… it’s frightening footage that proves Rob is the real thing… a cool thinking, intuitive animal handler that lives to teach us more about his remarkable world every day.