Why don'tcha C'mon on Down Under for a visit... ;-)

[Peter Aawen]

A gator would be more likely to try to eat you if you fed it. If you feed them, they lose their natural fear of humans and begin to associate people with food.

Gators that lose their fear of humans can become very dangerous and the people who associate gators with food have to remove them.

Same with the big Salties we see in places around Northern Oz - there are a number of Tour Operations that, despite frequent warnings NOT to do this, actively 'train' the big crocs to propel themselves up outta the water and grab food from tourists (they usually feed them chicken carcasses) - it's really speccy and makes for great photo ops, but it's SOOOO BLEEDIN' STOOPID TOO!

So in those areas, it's STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you don't go paddling in a low/close to the waterline kayak or dingy.... After all, the crocs NOW KNOW how to launch themselves outta the water a whole lot higher than that!!

And since they stopped wide ranging culling of all the big crocs back in the early '70's, there's now a whole new generation of crocs out there that haven't ever really been hunted or threatened by people; many of which have been taught to jump outta the water to get food from people; and many of them are now reaching sizes getting close to 20 foot long.... some are even bigger! And there are already places in Far North Queensland, the Northern Territory, and North-West Western Australia where divers never really need to worry about sharks, cos the crocs have eaten them all!

The brief for approaching standing water up that way is to stop well back from the water's edge (10+ feet AT LEAST!) and watch the water & surrounds carefully for at least 30 minutes.... If you see a croc in that time, you know they're there and they'll start hunting you if you go any closer to the water's edge.... And if you DON'T see any crocs in that time, you KNOW they're there and they're ALREADY hunting you!


But seriously, come on down, Oz is a great place to visit, with lotsa phenomenal scenery & fantastic touring/riding roads. And only a few tourists get killed or eaten every year by the flora or fauna, so the more visitors there are, the better the odds that it won't be you! Give us a yell when/if you're planning a visit, and we'll see how many of the local Spyder Ryders we can get to meet up with you.

[grumpyoldretiredcop]

You should both realize that you're talking about a 19-year old sailor as this was some 46 years ago. We were dumb enough to feed it but smart enough to throw from a good distance, hence I still have all my appendages. Good advice but a little late!

Not only did that gator get removed, but the one that came after that, and the next one, too... by which point I was ready to head to my next duty station but I bet it went on and on 'cause... Florida.

And I ain't coming to Oz unless Peter rides in front of me as the sacrificial spider (not Spyder, pun intended) victim! I guess I should issue a counter-invitation to come on up to the glory of Northern Nevada. Pity we don't have all that exotic wildlife so we'll have to settle for a little scorpion hunt... starting in your shoes, kinda like the snakes down there in Oz!

Actually, Oz is on my bucket list. Who knows?

[Isopedella]

You should both realize that you're talking about a 19-year old sailor as this was some 46 years ago. We were dumb enough to feed it but smart enough to throw from a good distance, hence I still have all my appendages. Good advice but a little late!

Not only did that gator get removed, but the one that came after that, and the next one, too... by which point I was ready to head to my next duty station but I bet it went on and on 'cause... Florida.

[Cobwebs]

Sad part of being endowed with so much coastline is this sort of regular occurrence. Here's the latest beaching in Western Australia.


Plenty of conjecture as to why but no answers at least none anyone wants to own up to. Sonar frequencies sending the whales deaf would throw a spanner in the works if it were to be proven was the case.

[Peter Aawen]

Did you see the way they were all bunched up offshore before the beaching?? There was some conjecture that there was a pack of Orcas in the area that may have been hunting them & bunching them up like that, but as you say, no real answers as to why...

[Cobwebs]

Did you see the way they were all bunched up offshore before the beaching?? There was some conjecture that there was a pack of Orcas in the area that may have been hunting them & bunching them up like that, but as you say, no real answers as to why...

Yes, acting like baitfish balling up. Another possibility is the joint military exercises going on around the country, who knows what sort of gadgetry they are fooling about with above and below the surface.