Croc killed Cairns spear fisherman - cairns.com.au

23 December 2011

Fatal attack: David Fordson who died of fatal 

injuries caused by a crocodile.

The Northern Coroner's Office has confirmed the fatal injuries suffered by Cairns spear fisher David Fordson earlier this month were caused by a "large estuarine crocodile".

The advice prompted warnings for boaties and divers to take extra precautions when visiting coastal Cape York this summer with crocodiles being spotted well offshore and at popular mooring sites.

In a statement, a coroner’s spokesperson said a post-mortem examination had been carried out during which police had sought specialist opinion from experts in crocodile and shark behaviour.

Mr Fordson, 49, was skipper of the cargo barge Torres Starservicing the Cairns to Thursday Island route when, ahead of schedule, they stopped to fish at the remote Cairncross Island group.

The alarm was raised when Mr Fordson failed to return to the vessel and his body was found in the early hours of December 6, with injuries initially thought to be from either a crocodile or a shark.

Underwater filmmaker and experienced boatie Ben Cropp has spent many years travelling the Cape York coastline and said he had noticed increasing numbers of crocodiles in the area.

Early summer is mating season for the animals, when the males are wandering further afield and looking for a female.

"On a recent trip we saw a lot of crocodiles and croc tracks all the way down the coast, and crocodiles at every offshore 
island we went to," he said.

"We’re talking six or eight miles out … on one little sand cay we saw three crocodiles, with three big tiger sharks in the shallows.

"These look like lovely places to moor but they are actually very, very dangerous, and Bushy Cay (where Mr Fordson was attacked) is only about three miles off the coast so it’s a lot closer to shore."

Mr Cropp said over the past seven years he had frequently seen a 3.5m crocodile lying on the sand at Bushy Cay.

Belgian police discover 11 crocodiles, alligator in search of villa - therepublic.com

23 December 2011

In this handout photo released by the Natuurhulpcentrum Opglabbeek, a Nile crocodile is held by a center employee in Opglabbeek, Belgium on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. During a Belgian tax investigation Belgian police found 11 Nile crocodiles and an alligator hidden in a villa. The villa's owner, a 51-year-old German man, is in police custody and has been charged with animal neglect. (AP Photo/Natuurhulpcentrum)

BRUSSELS — Police carrying out a search discovered 11 Nile crocodiles — five of them squeezed into a small shower — and an alligator at a house in northern Belgian.

Police were searching the villa of a German man suspected of fraud in the village of Lapscheure Thursday when they came across the reptiles, said Frederik Thoelen, a biologist at the Nature Rescue Center where they are now being kept.

Five of the crocodiles were found squeezed into a small, dirty shower; five others were kept in an aquarium made for only two, Thoelen on Friday. The alligator, meanwhile, was rolled up in several blankets.

"They were really kept in horrible conditions," said Thoelen.

He said the owner told them the crocodiles were about 5 years old, but they were far too small for their age, most likely because of their restrictive caging and insufficient food. Instead of measuring more than two meters (6 feet), the newcomers at the rescue center in Opglabbeek, eastern Belgium, have grown only to a little over one meter (3 feet).

Police were searching the villa of a German man suspected of fraud in the village of Lapscheure Thursday when they came across the reptiles, said Frederik Thoelen, a biologist at the Nature Rescue Center where they are now being kept.

But things are bound to get better for the 12 reptiles, once they get released from the rescue center's intensive care unit.

The owner gave up his rights to the animals once it became clear that he did not have the necessary papers, said Thoelen. "That is very good news because now we can look for a new place for the animals," he said.

An animal shelter in Germany, which has more experience with reptiles, has already expressed some interest, but for the coming weeks, they will stay in Opglabbeek, said Thoelen.

The biologists at the center have already started preparations for new living quarters — water pool and underfloor heating included.

And they will be fed with chicken carcasses from the nearby slaughterhouse.

Thoelen said the animals most likely won't get a special treat for Christmas, because, "they got their biggest present yesterday" when they were rescued.

Snappy Christmas, one and all - qt.com.au

22 December 2011

Seven-year-old Hope Bohan and nine-year-old
Sasha Doyle with Santa and a crocodile at the
Community Compassion Christmas party at
the Ipswich Food Barn.

SOME of Ipswich's most needy children enjoyed a very snappy Christmas when they got up close and personal with a baby crocodile at the Community Compassion Christmas Party in Woodend on Tuesday.

Free food hampers, Christmas presents and a cooked lunch were also on offer as about 400 people packed into the group's hot tin-shed headquarters at Darling St.

Children collected presents and mobbed Santa and his unusual pets as parents enjoyed a moment away from the daily hardship faced by many Ipswich families this Christmas.

The Foodbarn is barely a year old, but you would never know it by the number of people who flock to the centre each week for help.

Centre co-ordinator Kerry McQuaker said the church-run facility had fed more than 1500 Ipswich families in the first year and the numbers showed no sign of slowing.

"The sad thing is that everybody is struggling more financially every day," he said.

"We're still increasing by five to 10 families a day here."

The Foodbarn, also known as the Lion and the Lamb Community Centre, opens daily from 9am to primarily provide food hampers to needy families.

The Christmas party was a way to offer families a little extra joy in what can be a difficult time of year for those reliant on welfare services.

Fluffy the crocodile survives bus runover - philstar.com

22 December 2011

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A veterinarian says a young crocodile named Fluffy is back to her cranky old self after being hit by a bus while duck hunting in a north Australian city.

Doug English says the 4 foot, 3 inch (1.3-meter) saltwater crocodile underwent emergency surgery and spent 11 days recovering in the Marlin Coast Veterinary Hospital after the late night accident in a beachside suburb of Cairns.

English said Thursday that while young crocodiles were often killed by cars on Cairns' roads, Fluffy was the first he knew of to survive such an accident.

The crocodile had caught a duck and was headed across the road with it toward a creek when it was hit.

Fluffy was so named by vet nurses because she was found with the "fluffy duck" in her jaws.

Crocodile comes off second best after crossing the road to catch a bus - cairns.com.au

Getting snappy: Fluffy the crocodile gets a bit anxious after 

being patched up by vet Doug English at the Marlin Coast 

Vet Surgery before she will be released into the wild. 

Picture: TOM LEE

21 December 2011

SHE'S all smiles now, but Fluffy the crocodile was in a far more serious state arriving on vet Doug English's operating table 10 days ago.

The 1.3m saltie was found near death by the roadside, clenching a recently caught duck between her sizable jaws after being hit by a bus at Yorkeys Knob.

After noticing the injured reptile about midnight, a local farmer braved the crocodile’s feisty temperament and loaded her in his car.

Dr English had to act quickly to save the croc during an early-morning emergency surgery that lasted almost two hours.

"Its guts were all ruptured and spilling out the side – we had to do the surgery straight away otherwise she would’ve died," he said.

Clinic staff were pleased to see her bite return after the surgery.

"Once she started to get a lot snappier and crankier, we knew she was a lot better," Dr English said.

Nile crocodile is two species, study says - upi.com

19 December 2011

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The Nile crocodile, a species identified by ancient Egyptians, is in fact two distinct species that have been going by the same name, U.S. researchers say.

That's the verdict of genetic analysis using samples taken from species throughout the animal's range, and including DNA from mummified crocodile remains, researchers said.

"This paper provides a remarkable surprise: the Nile crocodile is not a single species, as previously thought, but instead demonstrates two species -- living side-by side -- constitute what has been called the Nile croc," Marlys 

Houck, a geneticist with the San Diego Zoo Global's Institute of Conservation Research, said.

"Even more remarkably, they are not each other's closest relatives; one is more closely related to New World crocodilians," Houck said in a release from the Zoological Society of San Diego Monday.

That species, Crocodylus suchus, is declining or has disappeared throughout much of its distribution, researchers say, and without proper recognition of this species current sustainable use-based management policies for the Nile crocodile may do more harm than good.

"The cryptic Crocodylus suchus is a unique entity worthy of a conservation strategy separate from the Nile crocodile populations of East and southern Africa," Houck said.