‘Cruelty’ sparks call to cull jam-packed crocs
THE man who put Innisfail on the crocodile tourism map has pleaded with authorities to remove a 3m specimen from Babinda Creek for humanitarian reasons.
The large saltie was spotted sunning itself at Wonga Park area last week, about 300m from the Rotary Park swimming hole, sparking fears for Babinda’s tourism appeal.
Former owner of the Johnstone River Crocodile Farm, Mick Tabone, said the sighting at Babinda indicated a bigger problem and one that was detrimental to crocs, not just humans.
“Crocs prefer a temperature of about 30 to 32 degrees – under 28 is too cold,” he said. “The water where that croc was found is colder than most of the waters.
“That crocodile is not at home – it’s living in misery up there, because it is just too cold for it.
“Other crocodiles have obviously kicked it out and that forces crocs to go up where they have never been before.”
The current crocodile management plan means that the Department of Environment and Science will only remove crocodiles over 2m or crocs that have shown aggression.
However, the scheme has come under fire, with many people saying it is ineffective.
“With all the complaining we’ve done, we’ve actually gotten nowhere with the crocodile problem,” said Mr Tabone. “That crocodile was chased up there by other, dominant crocodiles, which proves there are far too many in the lower reaches of the river.
“I’ve had people from overseas who have said they won’t come up here because there are too many crocodiles so the message has already spread overseas.”
He said the only answer to the problem is a cull.
“We have to do something,” he said.
“It’s their territory, yes, but we have to have something for us. There are plenty of places for crocodiles to live where they won’t mix with humans.
“When we were kids, we swam in the river – there must have been some crocs there, but they saw humans as a threat to them.
“When we used to trap them, you’d see the mudslide on the bank. but you’d rarely see a croc because he’d hear the outboard motor coming and hide.
“People always say ‘ Well, how many people are killed with cars, and how many are killed by crocs?’ – well to that I ask how many people are swimming compared to how many are driving?
“The last school holidays there were no kids fishing on the wharf, no kids in little boats. There used to be kids everywhere.
“We have to take our waterways back from crocs.”