Reporter ‘legs it’ to escape crocodile

Katherine Times’ reporter Lydia Lynch was with a group of visitors who spotted the croc near the Southern Rockhole and “legged it”, as she said.

“We were sitting in the shade near the water waiting for the boat to pick us up from the bottom of the Southern Rockhole,” Ms Lynch said.

“My friend had her back to the gorge when I noticed the crocodile lift its head above the surface of the water about a metre from the shoreline.

“So it was only about three metres from my friend and I when we took off.

“I felt pretty bad for the families with young kids around because I let loose with a lot of swear words and I legged it up onto higher rocks. 

“I am obviously not a very good friend or journalist because I ran away before snapping any photos and left my friend behind to fend for herself,” she said.

“As soon as we got onto the boat I told the ranger what I had just seen, and he asked me if I was sure it wasn’t a ‘freshie’. 

“I spent about three hours up at Crocodylus in Darwin studying the difference between freshwater and saltwater crocodiles for this exact moment in my life. 

“I told him ‘No, I am sure that was a saltie, it had a big thick broad head,” she said. 

The sighting was immediately reported to Parks NT rangers who have been pulling some big salties from this gorge this wet season.

A 3.7m saltie was trapped and removed on February 17 and a second. a 3.4m croc, was trapped on March 24.

There has been an explosion in the numbers of deadly saltwater crocodiles trapped in the Northern Territory this year.

NT rangers have trapped 114 saltwater crocodiles so far in 2017, more than double the 53 they had collected at this time last year.

And that’s despite some people dangerously interfering with the croc traps to let them go.

“There have been over 50 captures in March alone and the biggest we have trapped so far this year was 4.2m,” Parks and Wildlife Commission NTPWCNT Crocodile Management chief wildlife ranger Tom Nichols said.

Two big crocs have been caught in the Nitmiluk gorge already this year.

The 4.2m salty was caught in the Southport trap, this trap is only 400 metres from a public boat ramp and it was the second crocodile over four metres captured in that trap this month.

The Crocodile Management Team also has evidence that people have been interfering with traps.

This is an inherently unsafe thing to do and undermines the hard work of the crocodile management unit in keeping Territorians safe from crocodiles.

“We discovered that at four different traps, where crocodiles had triggered the trap doors, persons unknown to us, have in fact tampered with the device to open the traps and subsequently release the animals,” Mr Nichols said.

Under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act it is an offence to touch, stand on, enter, move or disturb a Commission crocodile trap.

Doing so may result in a penalty ranging between $502 (infringement) to a maximum penalty of $7,700 or 6 months imprisonment (prosecutable offence).

“Crocs are on the move and can be in any waterway so Be Crocwise. With the Easter break coming up and the dry season around the corner, we urge everyone to be smart and sensible at all times,” added Mr Nichols.

To report saltwater crocodile sightings in the Darwin region phone 0419 822 859 or in the Katherine region phone 0407 958 405.