In 1979, filmmaker Richard Oxenburgh asked Ansell to relive his adventures in the documentary film "To Fight the Wild", which the following year was published as a book. Although both accepted Ansell's version of events uncritically, his story was frequently treated with skepticism by locals in the Top End. Some believed it was a publicity stunt and others wondered why Ansell did not follow the river downstream to the nearest town. When Ansell was asked in interviews what he was doing in the remote Australian wilderness by himself, he claimed he was on a fishing trip. Privately, however, he confided to friends that he was actually poaching crocodiles.