FAR NORTHERN ANIMAL SANCTUARY BABYSITS PROBLEM CROCODILES
Cassowary hospital doubles up
A FAR Northern hospital, purpose-built for treating sick and injured cassowaries, is also being operated as a halfway house for crocodiles.
The Garners Beach Cassowary Rehabilitation Centre, which was taken over by North Queensland group Rainforest Reserves Australia in early 2016, is also providing temporary accommodation for “problem” crocs removed from local waterways.
Figures obtained from the Department of Environment and Science show that since the start of the year, more than a dozen crocs have been held in temporary holding pens at the Garners Beach facility.
Problem crocodiles are regarded as saltwater crocs that pose a direct risk to the public, either through their location, size and/or aggressive behaviour towards humans.
A DES spokesman said most problem crocs that departmental wildlife officers removed from the wild in the Far North were transported to a secure, purpose-build croc enclosure at the Garners Beach facility, where they were held temporarily prior to placement in a croc farm or zoo.
“DES wildlife officers work with Tully Vets and staff from Rainforest Reserves Australia, which operates the Garners Beach Recovery Centre, to do a fantastic job to provide care and treatment to injured and orphaned cassowaries,” he said.
Tully vet Graham Lauridsen, who treats a majority of the cassowaries brought to the wildlife hospital, said there were currently two crocs in the holding pens.
“The good thing is, we just let go of our last cassowary out of the facility there two weeks ago and we haven’t got one in there right now,” he said. “It’s great. “The crocodiles are actually kept quite separate to the cassowaries, on the side of the facility there, with significant fencing between them and anything else.
“The reality is, for the crocodiles, that every time I go there, they’re just sitting there, sleeping in the water.”