by Levi J Parsons
SYDNEY, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Crocodile sightings in suburban areas are on the rise in Australia's Queensland state, according to data from the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection Agency.
"The level of crocodile danger is rising and can no longer be ignored," Mayor of the far north city of Cairns Bob Manning told local media on Friday.
"All the public want is to know that their children are safe, they want their swimming holes back and they want to be able to feel safe at beaches."
There were 127 confirmed crocodile sightings in 2016 and a further 378 reports that were unconfirmed.
In the previous year there were 87 sightings and in 2011 only 56, suggesting the reptile population is growing rapidly.
However experts believe it could be mismanagement of the crocodile population that is causing the species to become more aggressive and travel further into populated areas to look for food.
"If a crocodile is spotted over a certain size in an area that is heavily populated, rangers will remove that crocodile and I believe this has been the reason for an increase in certain areas, because if you take away that top-line predator, everything else tries to fill the niche underneath," Australia Zoo's head reptile keeper, Daniel Rumsey told Xinhua.
"Instead of having one really large male, you have 20 or 30 12-footers coming through, all trying to dominate, all trying to mate and they are also looking and competing for food."
"I think a lot of crocodile experts would back me up when I say that there has been a little bit of mismanagement of larger crocodilians, think of the big male crocs as the police of that environment, they keep the population in check."
Following the death of a woman, attacked by a crocodile at a beach in the State's north in 2016, the Queensland government pledged to spend 5.8 million Australian Dollars (4.4 million U.S) over three years on crocodile management.
Since then there have been instances of crocodiles captured at Golf courses, suburban water ways and even crossing one of the state's major highways.
The largest crocodile captured last year was in the city of Townsville when a 4.7-metre giant was taken from an upscale, residential waterfront precinct.
Bob Katter, a Federal Member of Parliament, has proposed a radical solution to deal with the "unprecedented population" of crocodiles, suggesting a culling program involving shooting safaris.
"I don't agree with that at all, they're Australia's apex predator and a keystone species that are so important to our environment, culling them doesn't solve anything," Rumsey said.
