Crocs Plague Queensland
According to reports, the floods destroying Queensland and other parts of Australia are now causing an even bigger problem - crocodiles in the streets.
One 5′3″ crocodile was hit by a car earlier this week, and there are reports of more of the large reptiles washing into the area. From Yahoo! News:
The army has been called in to help with rescue and recovery efforts, while three reports of large crocodiles washed up from flooded rivers have come in from homes in the Gulf of Carpentaria region.
The floods are coming on the tail of a record-setting heatwave that killed 35 people, and more storms could be on the way in the coming week, since conditions are favorable for another tropical system to move through the region. Meteorologists warn that climate change is to blame for the recent weather disasters, and that things will only get worse in coming years.
I just need to make a correction to the above. The news report that you have based this post on was generated in Sydney, but the floods and crocs are in Queensland in northern Australia, thousands of kilometers away from Sydney. No crocodiles live anywhere near Sydney.
It is the city of Townsville which has encountered crocs. While it does qualify as a city, Townsville is nothing like the fast-paced metropolitan Sydney, and is more like an overgrown country town in comparison.
It is a shame that such an important message about climate change and its devastating effects in Australia is marred by inaccurate and sloppy information. The correct information was in the original article, but I guess it sounds more exciting to say that a huge metropolitan city is awash with crocodiles.
Jane - thanks for pointing out the mistake. I promise that it was in no way an attempt to make it sound more exciting - I’m just not familiar at all with Austalian’s cities, and usually reports come from the place in question. I’ve corrected the mistake.
There’s a chance I could be wrong but that doesn’t look like any crocodile in Austratilia that I know after years of watching Steve Irwin. The pics are small but here, http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/australian_crocodiles.html The left is a saltwater croc and the right is a freshwater, both from australia.