John Andersen says freshwater crocodile should be moved on from Lake Eacham

The freshie at Lake Eacham has had its fair share of publicity recently but where does it actually belong? Here’s Talk of the North John Andersen’s take on the freshie in his local swimming hole.

A freshwater crocodile has been filmed at the edge of the Lake Eacham near the public swimming area. Picture: Yungaburra Park Motel

The Lake Eacham Johnstone’s croc – also known as a ‘freshie’ as in freshwater crocodile, has had is fair share of publicity lately.

The rainforest, crater lake is my local swimming hole and up until recently this fine specimen of Crocodylus johnstoni kept to himself over on the far side.

Recently he’s been spotted in the early morning right at the steps where people enter the water. He’s become more outgoing.

There are the lake’s regulars (I’m not one of them) who arrive in the pre-dawn darkness to swim across or around Lake Eacham, rain, hail or cyclone. Summer and winter. Everyone knows the croc was put into the lake by someone who caught it as a wee nipper, probably up in the Walsh or Mitchell River systems.

It doesn’t belong there. Crocs, estuarine or freshies, were never native to Lake Eacham.

The State Government has no plans to move the freshwater croc from Lake Eacham even though this is not its natural habitat

So, why is he being allowed to stay put when (A) this is not its native habitat. The croc surely would prefer to be back up in the Walsh or Mitchell, far from the maddening crowd, chilling out with his own kind.

He’d probably like to pal up with a member of the opposite sex and make some little freshies so he can hear the scratch, scratch of little claws. (B) He becomes a danger to people who use the 840m by 720m lake for recreation and training.

This is their local swimming pool. This is a far stretch, but it’s not unlike someone putting a poisonous bullrout in Tobruk Pool on The Strand and the State Government saying, “they’re harmless, as long as you don’t stand on them”.

It’s obvious now the freshie is becoming more adventurous and is taking a wider interest in his habitat … and becoming territorial.

Freshies are armed with a formidable weapons system

A 62 year old bloke doing his daily constitutional across the lake was bitten by the croc on June 1. Anyone who has looked inside the gob of a freshie know they possess a pretty lethal weapons’ system. Think barracuda. Those small, sharp teeth are made from for ripping and tearing.

Why won’t National Parks catch it and let it go out in one of the wild rivers? When I asked the Department of Environment and Science what the go was in regard to the croc, I was sent the standard Drawer Three media release which basically states that they are doing SFA and that if people get bitten, it’s their own fault.

It doesn’t sound like the bloke who was swimming across the lake on June 1 was looking for trouble. Trouble found him. Telling people freshwater crocs are “timid” and “non life-threatening” is cold comfort to the people who swim there every day and to the multitudes who swim there over weekends.

School holidays are coming up and children from all over North Queensland as well as interstate and foreign visitors will descend on the lake. If it’s one thing that will drive foreign and southern tourists away from the Tablelands, it is the word “crocodile”. The fact it is a freshie doesn’t matter one iota.

So, come on, The Queensland Department of Environment, do the right thing by this freshwater croc and put it back where it belongs. And do the right thing by the people who love to cool off in this beautiful lake.

Originally published as John Andersen says freshwater crocodile should be moved on from Lake Eacham