Crocodile Creek’s Sean le Clus is a man from a bygone era who spends life outdoors and seeks out thrills at every step.

He is the kind of person to start a sentence with ‘the first time I lost a finger was’ before regaling you with seemingly tall tales that turn out to be absolutely true.

Le Clus has become something of a celebrity recently after a video of him being bitten by a crocodile went viral after picking up traction on news sites across the world.

The crocodile in question was 78-year-old Hannibal, a 660kg and 4.8m long monster with whom Le Clus has been doing shows for more than a decade.

In the video, Le Clus can be seen sitting on Hannibal’s back when a female crocodile lunges towards them, catching him off guard.

“I stood up which surprised Hannibal and he lunged at me, catching my thigh and left wrist all in one. Normally I get off at his tail, so this change of routine is what confused him. It’s definitely not his fault,” said Le Clus.

Despite the catch and release nature of the bite, Hannibal’s 60cm bite area still caused three punctures in Le Clus’ thigh and upper leg and scratches on his wrist.

“Ultimately it was a light injury and I was able to patch myself up in a few minutes before getting back into the enclosure. But it was potentially the most dangerous injury of my life, because had Hannibal bitten a little harder or to one side, he could easily have hit my femoral artery,” he said.

While it was perhaps his most threatening injury, Le Clus’ list of old injuries is long.

He is missing two fingers – one as a result of a puffadder bite and one an accident with a bandsaw – while his legs have been cut up by numerous other accidents and crocodile encounters.

Most notably was a run in with Mthakathi (isiZulu for ‘witch’).

Mthakathi was so named because he had killed a 12-year-old boy in Botswana in the 90s, before he was bought by Crocodile Creek as a breeding male in 2001.

During a performance in 2004, Le Clus was caught on the shin by Mthakathi, causing deep cuts and almost prompting a skin graft, but naturally Le Clus was back at work two days later.

“He soon became my favourite crocodile because he had a little bit off attitude which I could play off. I was told once that I must have wanted to commit suicide growing up, because I have spent the rest of my life doing it bit by bit.”

But aside from the major ones, Le Clus estimated he has been bitten hundreds of times over his more than 30 years at Crocodile Creek.

This has never dissuaded him, however, and he is still excited to hop in with the cold-blooded killers at 68 years old, claiming they are far more affectionate and smarter than one would think.

“Look, if you’re an electrician your whole life, at some point you are going to get shocked – it comes with the territory,” added the handler who lives in Shaka’s Rock with wife Melanie and has two children, Elizabeth (18) and Colben (26).