Heart-stopping drone footage has captured the moment a beach-loving dog, managed to escape a crocodile lurking in the water just metres away.
The nailbiting video showed the massive reptile stalking the dog as it wandered the shoreline of Loyalty Beach, near Cape York in far north Queensland on Wednesday.
The dog appeared to be unaware it is was being stalked by the five-metre croc as it walked at the shoreline.
The crocodile treaded the water patiently hoping to pounce on the pooch.
The dog then retreated further away from the water, forcing the crocodile to lose interest in its potential meal.
A drone zoomed in more closely on the reptile and showed it in an unmoving pose after the dog had moved on
Aerial footage of the incident was uploaded to Instagram by photographer Jerry Ahmat.
Dozens of social media users who commented on the post were left in disbelief after the pooch managed to escape.
‘Spewing, I thought the dog was going to be eaten,’ one user said.
‘Omg get the dog away from the waters edge!!!,’ another wrote.
Others said the dog would have recognized the danger which is why it eventually ran away from the water’s edge.
‘The dog was aware of the croc,’ one social media user said.
‘The dog probably already knew it [crocodile] was there before it arrived,’ another wrote.
Heart-stopping footage has emerged of a dog that had a close encounter with a large crocodile on the shores of Loyalty Beach (pictured) in the Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland
Some users chimed in saying the dog should have been rescued earlier, instead of being allowed to venture close to the shore.
‘Don’t understand why the dog wasn’t called back when the croc was spotted,’ one social media user said.
Mr Ahmat, however, said that beachgoers tried to call the dog back before it went close to the water.
He said the pet appeared to be a stray dog as an owner was not sighted at the beach.
‘We have a lot of stray dogs up here, they say it belongs to someone in Seisia,’ Mr Ahmat told the Cairns Post.
‘We tried our best.’
Mr Ahmat was flying his DJI Mavic Air drone at the time the dog had the close encounter with the croc.
He said crocodiles often make their were to the shores of the beach and surrounding areas including Seisia and off the coast at Red Island.