I Also Hate Crocodiles.

[MissLT]

Another crocodile attack; this time in Western Australia (today; Monday 3/10/05) a 10 year old girl was attacked. There are no specific details about her condition at the moment; but my goodness what is going in Australia; the natives are getting very restless. First all the great whites start eating us and now the crocodiles.

Maybe Australian's meat tastes better and better each time they try . LOL, just joking with ya. You can peacefully go to bed at night.

[Shazzam]

Another crocodile attack; this time in Western Australia (today; Monday 3/10/05) a 10 year old girl was attacked. There are no specific details about her condition at the moment; but my goodness what is going in Australia; the natives are getting very restless. First all the great whites start eating us and now the crocodiles.

Maybe Australian's meat tastes better and better each time they try . LOL, just joking with ya. You can peacefully go to bed at night.

I lived in Darwin for a while a few years back and I must admit I was too frightened to swim in a water hole; even if it was 100 miles inland. You start to imagine all sorts of things. Plus in the Northern Territory if the crocs don't get you in the wet season the stingers will. It is a no win situation. Leaves alot to be said about having a swimming pool in your backyard doesn't it?

[MissLT]

I lived in Darwin for a while a few years back and I must admit I was too frightened to swim in a water hole; even if it was 100 miles inland. You start to imagine all sorts of things. Plus in the Northern Territory if the crocs don't get you in the wet season the stingers will. It is a no win situation. Leaves alot to be said about having a swimming pool in your backyard doesn't it?

Then don't swim. I just don't get why people love swimming. I mean, isn't the land big enough for ya to roam?

[MissLT]

They are scarry critters!

The fear started when I was reading an article about Felines. There was a small section about lynx that freaked me out. Man, those big cats usually hunt on the ground, but they are capable to swim and clim on trees. It totally freaked me out. Man, we would be surely dead if we came across one those cats. *Yike*

[Shazzam]

Then don't swim. I just don't get why people love swimming. I mean, isn't the land big enough for ya to roam?

I love swimming especially in the summer. You have to remember the weather here Lenny gets very very hot, especially in the Northern Territory.

I'm very careful where I take a dip; but yes there is always a risk. I love to surf too; so I'm probably tucker for some big hungry critter. All of the beaches that I surf at are patrolled; so that definately makes a difference.

I would love a swimming pool though. It would be great on those hot days when you don't feel like walking over red hot sand to get wet.

[Danyet]

THE heartbroken mother of a man killed by a crocodile at a Territory beach is now terrified of water and refuses to leave her home.
Jackie Harris, whose son Russell was taken by a 4m saltwater crocodile on Groote Eylandt in the NT's northeast, said she was coming to terms with his death. Mrs Harris, speaking to the media for the first time since the attack and being released from hospital, told the Sunday Territorian last Thursday: "I have only just found out how he died and I would prefer not to talk about it at this stage.

"All I can say is he was the best son that anyone could ever have."

Her husband Donald said from Nottingham, in England, how his wife could not stop thinking about water and was too frightened to even go into her back yard.

"She's OK but just keeps thinking of water," he said. It terrifies her."

Mrs Harris's family kept the details of her son's death from her, fearing she would not cope with the news of the croc attack.

They initially told her Russell had drowned.
Mrs Harris was shopping when her daughter-in-law, Russell's wife Jennifer, telephoned with the news.

"When she got back home and I told her she fell down in the hallway and just lay there screaming for two hours," Mr Harris said.

Mrs Harris was taken to hospital suffering shock and had to be sedated.

She was released four days later and has not left her house since, he said.

Russell Harris was a mining superintendent with Gemco, which mines manganese on the island, 800km northeast of Darwin.

He was killed by a croc while snorkelling at Picnic Beach, on the northeast of Groote Eylandt, last Saturday afternoon.

His wife was on the beach with a friend when he disappeared.

Russell had left Britain several years ago and had worked in the US and Mexico, before moving to Australia five months ago.

His sister Georgina has flown to Darwin to take her brother's body home for burial.

[Shazzam]

OMG isn't that terrible that poor woman. I can only imagine what she must be going through.

Malcolm Douglas (a pretty famous Australian explorer) has recently given an interview on national television here; saying that at this time of year people should know to stay out of the water. There are a couple of combinations that make crocodiles more hostile during the wet season (which is pretty much arrived). The first is that it is their mating season and two the heat. Apparently they get a little edgy.

I just have to wonder if their food supply is more limited this year than normal; and they are travelling to areas they normally don't visit in the hunt for food.

Still pretty scarry, I would stay out of the water in the Northern Territory anytime of year. I have always been very aware of the threat. Maybe tourists to this country need to be better informed.

[Danyet]

And yet another Crocodile story!!


Crocs on the loose after mass breakout
By Nigel Adlam
11oct05

AT LEAST five saltwater crocs were still at large in Darwin's rural region last night after a mass breakout from a crocodile farm.

Twelve salties were recaptured over the weekend and one is believed to have been shot dead by a startled homeowner. Parks and Wildlife ranger Tom Nichols said the crocodiles still on the run would rest in shade during the day and try to find a waterway at night.

"They will be coming out of the woodwork for a few days," Mr Nichols said.

A trap is to be set at Bees Creek, 30km south of Darwin.

About 18 salties escaped from Darwin Crocodile Farm at Noonamah after the lower part of a stable door to their holding pen was accidentally left open by a worker.






Most of the animals were recaptured on neighbouring properties. Some residents said they should have been warned that crocodiles were on the loose. Crocodile farm manager Ann Palmer said the animals were about 1.2m long.

"They're not man-eaters," Ms Palmer said. Crocodiles escaping was one of the industry's "occupational hazards", she said.

Ms Palmer said there was no danger of one of the bigger crocodiles - which are all used for breeding - getting out. She said two workers checked the breeding pen gates were locked each night.

Belinda Halliwell, 29, and her 27-year-old husband Mick, who own a 3ha property in Bees Creek Rd, found one of the crocodiles near their front door after being woken by their dogs barking early on Sunday.

"We thought about trying to catch it with a noose, but it was so quick and strong," she said. "We called Parks and Wildlife instead."

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, also found one of the salties in his yard.

He lassoed it then sat in his car with the door shut and holding the rope through a window until rangers arrived.

His wife said yesterday that residents should have been told the crocodiles had escaped.

"There are people around here with children and dogs," she said. "They could have been attacked."

Rangers heard a gunshot while they searched for the runaway crocs and assume one animal had been shot.

[Shazzam]

OMG! Danyet I know that you are going to think that I have a warped sense of humour but the thought of escapee croc's made me . You can just imagine them plotting their escape!

I tell you the wildlife in Australia has gone nuts!

[Danyet]

Well here is another crocodile story for your reading pleasure.

Large croc shuts Katherine Gorge
By NIGEL ADLAM
13oct05

SWIMMING and canoeing at one of the Territory's biggest tourist attractions have been suspended after the sighting of a saltwater crocodile almost 3m long.
And a saltwater crocodile was last night spotted in the marina at Darwin's upmarket Bayview.
Crocodile scientist Adam Britton saw a 2.7m saltie at the first gorge at Nitmiluk National Park near Katherine.
A spotlight search for the saltie was conducted last night.

Crocodiles are considered capable of killing a man when they reach 2.5m.

Senior wildlife officer Pat Carmody said he would try to catch the animal with a harpoon and take it to Coolabah crocodile farm. If that failed, a helicopter search would be conducted today.
``We will be doing our best to find it,'' Mr Carmody said.

Crocodiles are on the move at this time of the year as the breeding season approaches.
Many have been pushed out of prime estuarine habitat by bigger animal
A 3.5m saltie was removed from the first gorge in 1999.

The latest crocodile was spotted near a fruit bat colony on Sunday but not reported to rangers until yesterday.

Swimming and canoeing was immediately suspended.

The large tourist boats are still allowed up the gorges but the passengers have been told not to go in the water.

Mr Carmody said regular day and night crocodile surveys were carried out.
There is a permanent trap in the first gorge.

He said there was a reasonable chance the saltie would be tempted into the trap.

Seven saltwater crocodiles have been caught in the Katherine River this year.
That is about the average.
Meanwhile, Bayview residents contacted the Northern Territory News to say a saltie had been spotted in the marina.