The photo of a tourist napping on a sandy embankment might look innocent enough to a quick observer. As water laps against his feet, the scene looks almost idyllic.
However, the man’s choice of location makes it anything but, with a passerby describing the scene as the “most dangerous nap” in the country, circulating the photo on social media as a warning to others.
Richard Somerton was out fishing last week in Willie Creek in Western Australia’s Kimberley region when he stopped dead in his tracks after spotting something on the beach.
“My husband was out fishing, and as he headed back in, he wondered what was lying on the beach. And as he got closer, he could see that it was old mate sleeping,” Richard’s wife Tanya told Yahoo, referring to the carefree tourist. “He said the water was lapping at his feet.
“He was right by the boat ramp. We know there are three big crocs there,” she said.
After approaching and warning the man, Tanya claims it was “bizarre” how unbothered the “free-spirited” tourist, thought to be British, was towards her husband when speaking about the high chance of encountering a crocodile in the area.
“He just seemed to be really cavalier about it. It was as if he thought he had an invisible force field around him or something,” she said.
Minutes later, as Richard was pulling his tinnie to shore, he noticed the man had disappeared from the embankment. Instead, he was “full on swimming in the middle of the creek”.
The same man was spotted taking a swim along Willie Creek minutes later. Source: Facebook/Wander & Hook
Complacency ‘behind every single fatality’, croc expert warns
While crocodile attacks are relatively low in comparison to the large number of crocs we have in the country, Amanda French, co-founder of Community Representation of Crocodiles, told Yahoo News that complacency is the through-line between every attack that occurs in Australia.
“Behind every single fatality has been complacency or reckless behaviour such as this. That person is absolutely in the strike range of a river saltwater crocodile,” she told Yahoo News. “We still see people act recklessly in croc country… and this is the issue that we need to tackle with people getting the message.”
She explained that it’s not only the man who would pay the price if he were to be attacked, but the crocodile would be killed in line with the crocodile management plan. Rangers also have the harrowing task of retrieving the victim’s body.
French said that “behind every single one of these incidents” is poor human behaviour, and that needs to be flagged, rather than pushing the perception that crocodiles are a problem that needs to be dealt with.
“We would really like to see people taking personal responsibility in croc country,” she said.
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