ARE tourists being seduced by the beauty of the tropical north region and forgetting the threat of crocodile attacks?

In the wake of New Zealand-born Cindy Waldron’s death after being snatched by a crocodile in Cape Tribulation, wildlife expert Rebecca Lynch believes more could be done to inform visitors of the danger crocodiles posed through education packs upon arriving on our shores.

She used the Gold Coast’s ‘only swim between the red and yellow flags’ campaign as an example of how better education can help save lives. The campaign was launched after a spate of drowning’s to international tourists in the early 2000’s at the holiday mecca.

“The potential for accommodation destinations in the region to have warning notices to be ‘Croc Wise’ in welcome packs could certainly be considered,” Lynch, who is the wildlife officer at the Wildlife Habitat Port Douglas, said.

“Similar to the campaign on the Gold Coast…TV advertising and advice in hotel accommodation was very successful.”

Images of people entering and exploring our crocodile inhabited waters are beamed around the world through tourism and social media channels, potentially lulling international tourists into a false sense of security.

“I do believe that many visitors to our region don’t realise the very real potential for crocodile attacks,” Lynch said.

“Our beaches and rivers look so inviting and pristine, plus the weather is perfect, so I suppose many visitors find it hard to remember or believe that there could be danger present.”

He also pointed out that crocodiles were one of the main reasons tourists visited far north Queensland.

“This is one of the very few time’s this kind of thing has happened,” Entsch said.

“The warnings are obviously working because millions of people go through that area (Daintree Rainforest) from around the world every year, and something like this basically never happens and is extremely rare.

“It’s an extremely iconic location, and one of the reasons why it’s iconic is that crocodiles live in their natural habitat.

“No matter how good the education is, or what new measures you put in place, people will always find a way to ignore the warnings.”

Lynch said crocodile warning signs near Far North Queenland waters didn’t always deter people from swimming.

“I have seen people hang their towels over the ‘Achtung’ signs that indicate crocs inhabit the area and go swimming anyway,” Lynch said.

“Individuals need to take some accountability for their actions, unfortunately the old ‘it would never happen to me’ saying seems to come into play in crocodile habitat.

“Crocodiles are not man hungry beasts waiting to eat us all. They are an opportunistic, ambush predator that will take advantage of whatever presents itself when they are hungry and as long as humans are respectful of their domain, the chances of being attacked are greatly reduced.”

There have been seven people killed and 24 known crocodile attacks in Queensland since 1985 according to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.

The state government has just announced they will pour $5.8million over three years into crocodile management, which will include a monitoring program to study crocodile populations.