Crazy Croc in Oz + Update: Boy Eaten
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 18th, 2009
Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Chrissy Arthur reported on February 18, 2009, of an unusual appearance of an urban crocodile.
Police in Mount Isa say it is very rare to have a crocodile reported in the city’s CBD. (ABC: Jodie van de Wetering)
A small crocodile has been found dead in a river crossing in the centre of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland.
Queensland police say a taxi driver accidentally ran over a metre-long crocodile while driving over the Leichhardt River crossing on 23rd Avenue in the early hours of this morning.
Inspector Ray Pringle says while there are freshwater crocodiles in Lake Moondarra north of the city, it is very rare to have a crocodile reported in the city’s CBD.
“Police thought he may have been a bit strange or under the influence of liquor or something but it was all above board,” he said.
“Sure enough when they went down there was this freshwater croc.
“It was quite severely injured and they looked at opportunities to save its life but the injuries were so bad it passed away.
“They’re making arrangements now to dispose of the body.”
++++
Just in…
Boy, 5, eaten by crocodile in Australia 18/02/2009
Daily Mirror
A boy of five was snatched and killed by a crocodile, police confirmed yesterday.
The remains of little Jeremy Doble were found in the stomach of the 14 foot reptile.
The youngster had been playing with his brother Ryan when he disappeared last week near the Daintree River in Queensland, Australia.
Ryan, seven, told police he saw a crocodile immediately after his brother vanished.
The crocodile, protected by Australian law, was examined by surgical procedure. It is not known if it will be destroyed
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Regarding the 5 year old – at last report, the boy’s parents were requesting that the croc not be killed, which I think demonstrates a heroic amount of restraint and intelligence on their part.
As humans proceed spread to every last nook and cranny on this planet, we will come into conflict continually with the species that had already established themselves in those environments. Short of eliminating those species completely, we will have to learn to deal with more tragic incidences like this one.
I feel for their loss but don’t understand why the parents were allowing the boys to play at the edge of the mangrove in the first place (unless they wandered over there after being told to stay away.) Even if they were a good 10-20 feet from the waters edge, a saltie can launch itself out of the water like a missile and grab anything on land.
I heard that the father was supposed to some kind of naturalist or guide on the river which puzzles me even more. Was he sloppy, had he gotten ‘too comfortable’ and too used to seeing and being around crocs? I don’t know but every time I’ve almost been nailed by a snake or a crocodilian was when I got too comfortable, too causal and then next comes carelessness.
Once I was in Florida on a small lake. I had been sitting there quietly for half an hour or so and a bird came flying by about four feet above the water. A mid-size gator shot straight up and grabbed this bird in flight not 10 feet from me. I didn’t have a clue it had been there the whole time, and I had been watching the lake closely for them. That was the third time in my life I failed to detect one right on top of me. It just reinforces that no matter how good you are in the bush, no matter how good you are spotting critters, they are always one notch better. I’m just glad I didn’t register as food.
I don’t know the particulars of this tragic event so I’m just wondering aloud. I’m sure the parents will grieve the rest of their lives. Just shows you can’t ever be too careful in a place inhabited by crocs, mangrove snakes, taipans and all the other deadly stuff Australia has.
On another note, the freshies (the one in the story) are having a hard time. Cane toads introduced into Australia are prolific breeders and have spread widely. They are also highly toxic and when they enter water to breed, the freshwater crocs are eating them and dying. Australia is concerned that this could become enough of a problem to endanger the freshies which have been holding their own for several decades. The toads don’t enter brackish water where the salties are.
Loren,
Mt Isa (and about 1/3 of the rest of Queensland) has been experiencing record floods for the past month. I would hazard a guess that may have contributed to the crocodile turning up in the centre of Mt Isa.
TheBibliophile wrote: “Regarding the 5 year old – at last report, the boy’s parents were requesting that the croc not be killed, which I think demonstrates a heroic amount of restraint and intelligence on their part.”
The reason the parents lived beside the Daintree is that they own a crocodile tourism business (driving tourists around in boats, showing them the crocs). So I’m sure they have some attachment to the creatures. Not sure how they would ever be able to go around looking at them again though.
TheBibliophile also wrote: “As humans proceed spread to every last nook and cranny on this planet, we will come into conflict continually with the species that had already established themselves in those environments. Short of eliminating those species completely, we will have to learn to deal with more tragic incidences like this one.”
My personal belief is that this tragedy has been contributed to by the fact that crocodiles are completely protected by law *and* not culled, leading them to have less fear of humans, as well as increasing numbers creating more pressure for resources and territory. Regular tourism has only contributed to the lack of fear of humans (especially if clandestine feeding has taken place).
Alligator wrote: “I feel for their loss but don’t understand why the parents were allowing the boys to play at the edge of the mangrove in the first place”
Same here. Reports have been confusing, but as best I can make out they were playing in the water, towing each other on a ‘boogie board’. Either the parents didn’t teach the boys enough respect for the crocodile in its own habitat (strange, considering their profession), or they weren’t watching them closely enough – that might sound harsh, but it’s akin to letting your kids play on a highway.
I grew up in the area, a friend of our family was taken in the 1980s when on an extremely hot New Year’s Eve they hopped in the river to thigh deep. I think her remains were found inside a 16 ft specimen. In recent years, there has been some debate over culling of the crocodiles in the Daintree. Officials say that the numbers are few and sizes are small (last survey was of 23km of river, finding 2 juveniles, one <2m specimen, and two sets of eyes in the dark) – and yet this boy was taken by a 14ft croc. Last time I was there (last year), I saw one that I would size conservatively at 16ft. My mother’s farm, which is pure fresh water at the head of the Daintree, now has 3 crocs in the water, whereas they have never been known to be there previously (we swam there all the time as kids). Given that crocodiles are highly territorial, this is suggestive that numbers are swelling to the point where they are being pushed upstream.
I do have my concerns therefore, that conservation is being over-committed to at the expense of the safety of local citizens.
“Queensland police say a taxi driver accidentally ran over a metre-long crocodile while driving over the Leichhardt River crossing on 23rd Avenue in the early hours of this mornin”
FYI, humans have 23 vertabrae =D
There are no coincidences (or accidents).
I “accidentally” came upon the following information, a result of looking for something completely unrelated (or so I thought).
The 23 Enigma
“William S. Burroughs was cited by Wilson as being the first person to notice the 23 enigma: Wilson, in an article in Fortean Times, related the following story:
I first heard of the 23 enigma from William S Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, Nova Express, etc. According to Burroughs, he had known a certain Captain Clark, around 1960 in Tangier, who once bragged that he had been sailing 23 years without an accident. That very day, Clark’s ship had an accident that killed him and everybody else aboard. Furthermore, while Burroughs was thinking about this crude example of the irony of the gods that evening, a bulletin on the radio announced the crash of an airliner in Florida, USA. The pilot was another captain Clark and the flight was Flight 23.””
Again, there are no coincidences (or accidents).
(Queens land. Cult of the serpent (Reptillians), draco, Alpha draconis)
“A small crocodile has been found dead in a river CROSSing”
The Jesus Lizzard? was there No Crocodile X-ing signs???!
“police say a taxi driver accidentally ran over”
“They’re making arrangements now to dispose of the body.”
Quick! Someone call a taxi-dermist! OHHHHHHHhhh!!!!!!
“Police thought he may have been a bit strange”
You don’t say?
“Sure enough when they went DOWN THERE… “
Here THERE be dragons!
I want to make a correction, or 2, apparently the human skeleton has 33 vertEbrae, not 23, as I had said, and vertebrae isn’t vertAbrae. But there ARE two (2) threes (3) in 33.
all jokes, “accidents” and synchronicities aside,
respect all life.
live and let live
oh and…”Always look on the bright side of life” Monty Python’s the life of brian.
The story of a 5-year old child being eaten by a croc is very disturbing to me. I know alot of folks will say that the parents have suffered and been punished enough, but I can’t believe that parents would allow such a young child to be put in such a dangerous situation to begin with. It sounds very much like child neglect/endangerment to me, and the authorities need to look very closely at all the details to determine if the parents should be charged and, if they have other children, determine if the state should take control. Like Greg Taylor said, it’s like sending your children out into the highway to play. I don’t understand how this could have possibly happened, how children were allowed to play, unsupervised, in such a dangerous area.