Locals stunned after crocodile reportedly sighted along a spit in Noosa, Queensland, sparking official investigation
Local Ross Buckley took to a Noosa Facebook community page on Sunday to say he spotted a crocodile "a few metres off the shoreline" at the Noosa Spit in south east Queensland during a 6.30am walk that morning, adding its length was about 3.5m.
He said the sighting had scared him away from walking in the same area in the mornings.
"At first I thought it was a bit of driftwood, but then it moved. I've lived here over 30 years and never seen anything like it, I've heard a few locals say they have seen one in the same neck of the woods, although I didn't think much of it," Mr Buckley posted.
"I quickly put the dog on the lead and kept my distance. Emergency services have been alerted and are apparently on a search for it now. Just wanted to give a heads up to all the locals who walk their dogs here early and usually swim around this area - be careful and stay safe. Not sure what's going on with wildlife lately but this gave me a real fright. Definitely won't be back here for my morning walk."
The sighting has shocked locals, who are not used to seeing crocodiles so far south in Queensland, especially during the middle of winter.
Hours later in the day, another man, fisherman James Graham, said he had also spotted what appeared to be a crocodile on the Garmin fish finder on his boat.
He told The Courier Mail he was confident it was the large reptile.
'(We) regularly go a few hundred kilometres north into croc waters, and use the Garmin fish finder to look around, and you'll see an old car or a boot or something on the bottom, and then you'll spot a croc,' he said.
'But down here in Noosa, to see exactly what we see many kilometres further north. That just says it's a croc to me, tell me that's not a croc.
'We looked at it and thought 'bloody hell, there's a croc' on my screen."
Shortly after the claims emerged, Cairns-based group Community Representation of Crocodiles told locals to be "alert" but not "alarmed".
It said while the sightings are unconfirmed, crocodiles appearing in southern waters were "actually not uncommon".
"They are vagrants or strays, and generally stay for a short amount of time and then head back north: they are not populating southern waters as research shows their populations stabilising and there is no evidence to support them breeding further south than Rockhampton due to water temp," it said on social media.
The Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation is investigating the reported sightings.
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