Crikey! Crocs on the move
TURF wars in the Far North are forcing ousted saltwater crocodiles into southern waterways where residents are crossing paths with the predators for the first time.
Go back a couple of generations, when there were fewer people and greater expanses of undeveloped habitat and tales of crocodile encounters as far south as Maryborough (about 200km north of Brisbane), were commonplace.
Since January 1 last year, 21 crocodile sightings have been reported well south of accepted crocodile territory at Gladstone’s Boyne River, as well as two in the Mary River, 300km south of that border and well inland.
Darwin-based crocodile expert Adam Britton, who heads crocodile research and consulting organisation Big Gecko, said patchy historical data made comparisons hard but he was confident river systems in the Northern Territory were nearing the kind of numbers not seen for more than 100 years.
Mr Britton said if Queensland was experiencing similar growth there would come a time when there was no more room in the central and northern waterways and a greater number of rogue or bullied crocodiles seeking safe habitats further south was inevitable.
While he did not believe numbers would reach the same concentrations seen further north, he said warmer temperatures in southern waterways could provide the right environment for “low density” populations.
He said crocodile were relatively rare but there was far greater risk if people were not aware of the dangers.