CHRISTINE KELLETT AND DANIEL HURSTJanuary 21, 2010
Their tourism slogan may be '100 % pure', but wildlife authorities say two New Zealand travellers were talking 99 % pure rubbish when they told a Gold Coast newspaper they saw a saltwater crocodile stalking a Hope Island canal.
Kiwi couple Anja and Chris Prigg had reportedly spent the morning shopping at Hope Island markets on Sunday when they claimed to have spotted the prehistoric predator in the nearby canal.
Instead of notifying wildlife authorities about the potentially dangerous situation, the Priggs contacted The Gold Coast Bulletin with a holiday happy snap of a dark shape in the water.
"We saw ducks making a really crazy movements like they were chasing each other," Mrs Prigg told the newspaper.
"Then I saw this crocodile coming."
Queensland Parks and Wildlife senior director Clive Cook called a press conference today to bury the crocodile claim, saying the Priggs were almost certainly mistaken.
"I don't know what it is but I can tell you it's not a crocodile," Mr Cook said of the Loch Ness monster-style picture.
"You'll see in this case it's too smooth. It doesn't leap out at you. For the untrained eye seeing that shape in the water, you think 'crocodile', but it just doesn't add up.
"I would be 99 per cent sure."
To demonstrate his point - and perhaps for future reference - Mr Cook helpfully provided the assembled media with a photograph of a real crocodile.
Veteran Queensland crocodile wrangler Bob Irwin was more blunt this morning, saying the Priggs' crocodile "was probably just a log."
"These people are from New Zealand; you don't get many crocodiles in New Zealand."
The last confirmed sighting of a crocodile anywhere near the Gold Coast was about 1903, when a three metre specimen was shot in the Logan River.
Mr Irwin said a crocodile's ability to survive in the man-made environs of a luxury canal development was next to none.
"Canals have no no mangroves or banks. There is absolutely no vegetation and nowhere for them to hide," he said.
"Crocodiles are very secretive, they need vegetation and somewhere to bask.
"They are also nocturnal and come out at night to feed, so for them to be feeding on ducks in the middle of the day is unlikely."
He said the Priggs had likely been confused by the birds' frisky carry-on.
"It's their mating season at the moment."
(Submitted by Matt Cardier)
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