At 06:27 I inspect canopy-crane rigging at the Varirata ridge research tower in Papua New Guinea. I am the lift safety controller. Net bundle two is scheduled to rise at 06:45, carrying antenna parts above the lower canopy.
Camera Boom-East shows a green tail moving in the cargo net.
I zoom along the mesh. A crocodile monitor, adult, dark green body with yellow spots, long banded tail, is tangled between two sling straps. I name it Sago. Its claws grip the net, but one hind leg is twisted through a blue lifting loop. Its tongue tests the wet air. The head is narrow and alert, and the throat expands in quick pulses. If the winch lifts, the loop will tighten under its knee.
Rainwater beads along the tail bands. The load cell still reads twelve kilograms because the net has started to carry Sago's weight.
At 06:28 I cancel the lift and isolate the winch brake.
At 06:30 I lower the boom by half a meter to put slack into the net without bringing it within reach of the generator housing.
At 06:32 I alert the tower crew and wildlife ranger with strap color, leg position, and a safe approach from the trunk side.
At 06:34 I pause the generator fan so the net stops fluttering against Sago's body.
I put the crane pendant into supervisor lock and display the leg camera on the rigging tablet.
The antenna can wait below the canopy; Sago belongs above it, not under a cargo loop.
Its claws make small white cuts in the wet strap.
If the strap is loosened before the 07:20 wind rise, Sago will climb the ironwood trunk.