CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian crocodile farmer who found an orthopedic plate inside a croc's stomach said Thursday that he had been told the surgical device was from a person's body and had been contacted by relatives of missing people anxious for clues.

Koorana Crocodile Farm owner John Lever found the plate inside a 4.7-meter (15-foot-5-inch) croc called M.J. during an autopsy in June at his business near Rockhampton in Queensland state.

He initially wasn't sure if the unusual find had been part of an animal or human. But he said since making photos of the plate public, he had bee...