Crocodile caught on Hollywood Beach
A 6-foot crocodile on Hollywood Beach was caught by wildlife officers Monday afternoon, after its appearance that morning drew television news helicopters and hundreds of onlookers.
A man snared the crocodile by the neck and dragged it up the beach, as the reptile remained motionless, its mouth open. Officials tied its mouth shut with tape. It was placed on a truck and driven off the beach, to cheers and applause from beachgoers who appeared to be rooting for it to emerge safe from its encounter with wildlife officers and police.
As a federally protected species, it won’t be harmed. It will be evaluated, tagged and released, said Katie Purcell, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman.
The crocodile, a native Florida species that’s distinct from the more common alligators, was first spotted near the Dania Beach pier, drifted south and came ashore around Johnson Street, said Joann Hussey, spokeswoman for Hollywood. As the crocodile attracted a crowd of beachgoers — many of them guests at the nearby Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort — police officers held people back.
A Hollywood Police officer approached people taking photos and told them to back up.
“Can you run 18 miles an hour?” the officer asked one woman. “No,” she said. “He can,” the officer said. Everyone backed up.
“We’ve already posted some cool photos on Facebook,” said Joe Fusco on vacation from Detroit with his family. “We were planning to go for a swim, but probably not now. It’s kind of fun actually, but no one can get in the water until they get this thing out of here.”
American crocodiles, which can grow to 16 feet, live in brackish and salt water in coastal areas. Their U.S. population is strongest in Florida Bay, Everglades National Park and the Upper Florida Keys. But they have been spotted in Hollywood, Boca Raton and other coastal cities, as well as on the Gulf coast.
As the crocodile came within a half-mile of the Hallandale Beach border, a reporter called Hallandale Beach City Manager Roger Carlton, who appeared surprised by the news.
“As soon as we hang up, I’m going to call the police chief,” he said. But he added that he had nothing against crocodiles.
“Hallandale is a very inclusive community,” he said. “And we welcome all visitors.”
Although there have been very few known attacks by American crocodiles on people in the United States and no known fatal attacks, there have been attacks — some fatal — in other parts of the crocodile’s range, which covers the Caribbean, Central American and northern South America.
Once occupying a range that extended as far north as Lake Worth on the east coast and Tampa Bay on the west coast, they had been reduced by coastal development and hunting to a stronghold in northern Florida Bay by the 1970s.
From a low of 300 or so in the 1970s, crocodiles have increased their numbers to about 2,000, not counting hatchlings, according to the state wildlife commission. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded their status from endangered to threatened.