A two-metre crocodile has been spotted on the beachfront at a popular Queensland camping area with visitors being urged to remain especially vigilant.
Rangers from the (QPWS) watched the giant reptile at the Sarawak camping area at Inskip Point ar Rainbow Beach move into the ocean. They took photos of the crocodile’s body imprinted on the sand, including the marks made by its claw and sliding tail.
Senior wildlife officer Joshua Morris told the ABC that the animal was likely to be the same crocodile recently spotted at Coonarr Beach, near Bundaberg.
“Rangers will be notifying people in camping areas in the Inskip Point region and wildlife officers will install recent crocodile sight warning signs,” Mr Morris said.
Crocodiles are a fairly common sight in north Queensland. This one was pictured basking on the bank of Water Park Creek near Byfield National Park a couple of years ago. PIC: Queensland DES
“People in the area are urged to be vigilant around the water, keep their children close and use an esky or similar as a barrier while fishing.”
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service said that as part of its investigation, it will conduct ground patrols, vessel-based searches and use drones to check the surrounding coastline.
Mr Morris said Rainbow Beach was hundreds of kilometres outside of Queensland’s normal crocodile habitat, and the animal would be removed from the wild when it was located.
“We are asking people in the Rainbow Beach region, including boaties, to make a sighting report if they see what they believe to be a crocodile,” he said. “We can reassure the public that this crocodile is considered to be a vagrant animal that has moved into the area from up north, and this sighting does not mean the crocodile population is extending south,” he said.
The crocodile spotted last week at Coonarr Beach near Bundaberg prompted a flurry of calls and videos from the public.
Senior Wildlife Officer Tony Frisby thanked those who had made reports and said crocodiles could swim up to 40 kilometres a day.
“The Wide Bay is considered atypical crocodile habitat, and it is possible that the animal was flushed out of a river system in its normal range by high rainfall or due to a conflict with another crocodile,” he said.
The department says it investigates every crocodile sighting report received.
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Because of the blow out of numbers in the Croc population in the north and limited room for habit, especially with the younger males, they will adapt to conditions and move further south.
If that is the case, that numbers push them south, how come crocodiles were not in the Mary river & south of that when the first white men came, the local natives didn’t cull them, there would have been many more than today.
Makes a good case for a controlled crocodile harvesting industry further north.
Well due to the overpopulation in the north they have no choice but to go south as if they don’t they will be food for their larger relatives
I am waiting for some one to screen “Climate Change”..
Bluntly if the population north is too big they will move south,
Time for more croc meat at Wollies, Coles and Aldi.
Spot on
In the early 1900s a giant croc was shot in the Logan river south of Brisbane. His taxidermy body was in the foyer of the Queensland Club. This is well south of Maryborough.
Crocs have been spotted in the Mary River.
With the recent heavy rains how many crocs are being flushed out of their locales and pushed all over by currents, river and ocean??