Cairns Regional Council will ask the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) to consider relocating a crocodile believed to have taken up residency in Lake Placid.
At Thursday’s Infrastructure Services Committee Meeting, Mayor Val Schier successfully moved a motion to request that DERM review its response to crocodile sightings in known recreational swimming areas.
“We are seeing crocodiles in areas like Lake Placid, which are established recreation areas where people regularly swim,” Cr Schier said.
“I’m not talking about removing crocs from every waterway, but this is a well-frequented swimming area and I think we need to be protecting people.
“DERM have said they are not going to trap the animal, but maybe they need to rethink that position.
“And it isn’t just a safety issue – it’s an economic issue as well. There are businesses affected.”
Cr Schier said other popular recreation areas, such as Ross and Lock and Mulgrave River swimming holes, should also be crocodile-free.
Council erected crocodile warning signs at Lake Placid at the request of DERM last year. However, the reptile is not considered to be a “problem” crocodile and therefore there is no plan for relocation.
Locals have no doubt been swimming with crocs for years and there was a certain bliss in being ignorant of just where crocs might be. Probably the worst case scenario would be for DERM to trap and remove 'todays' crocodile and then people assume that 'there are no crocodiles and no problem'. When people stop taking care is when they are vulnerable. If you told me THE croc had been removed from Lake Placid, I still would not be prepared to swim there.
I recall once taking a swim in the Annan River on the way to Cooktown. I checked out the beautiful big pool upstream from a big waterfall that no croc could climb. After the swim I noticed slide marks, sure sign of a croc. National Parks were aware that crocs sometimes made it to this big pool, not by climbing the waterfall but crossing from one river to another via the shared swamps in the headwaters. Since that experience, I have treated ALL coastal rivers as croc territory and accept no assurances from anyone about a place being 'croc free'. Short of full boom netting of the Barron River, I would NEVER accept any assurances by anyone about Lake Placid being 'croc free'. Has always been croc habitat, always will be.
There is really therefore no point in attacking DERM for not trapping the croc at Lake Placid. Better to understand the ecological reality.
The added complication we have in the rivers around Cairns is that not all crocs are a danger. We have the much less dangerous Johnson River crocodile as well as the dangerous 'Salty'. When someone reports seeing a 'croc', unless they are trained observer they will not be able to recognise the difference. The croc report at Lake Placid may have been a harmless freshwater species. But equally it could have been a salty. There may have been two or three but only one was seen.
The community, especially newcomers, need to be educated about crocodiles and particularly that all coastal rivers are the habitat of crocodiles and that there can never be any guarantees about any coastal water body in the tropics being 'croc free', even if it is not connected to a river. Much the same with venomous snakes - there can be no guarantees. But crocs and snakes should not stop us enjoying life in the tropics.
Add comment