Keys mayor wants crocodiles removed from human areas

The mayor of Islamorada is calling for the state to remove crocodiles from areas populated with people.

“There weren’t any crocs around when I was a kid,” Mayor Michael Reckwerdt said.

Now, the 45-year-old mayor, born and raised in Islamorada, wants them gone from his Florida Keys city.

He said his concerns are on three levels: safety of the area’s children, pets’ safety and the stability of the local economy.

“What’s it going to do to our tourism economy when another pet is killed, or God forbid something else?” Reckwerdt asked in interview.

After a large dog was plucked from a Key Largo dock and killed by a crocodile in March, and the arrival of the reptiles in the water off his business, Reckwerdt no longer feels safe letting his young children swim in the canal. A Key Largo couple said they were scratched and bitten during an April late-night kayak excursion in the bay, which was not classified as a croc attack.

Reckwerdt said at a Village Council meeting earlier this month that he wants crocodile experts to come to the board’s May 24 meeting to discuss options about removing large crocodiles from populated areas.

Reckwerdt said he doesn’t favor killing crocodiles but fears it is a matter of time before one attacks a person.

“At what point do we do something about this?” Reckwerdt asked. “You look at areas where they’re plentiful — Australia, the Nile — they eat people.”

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the American crocodile population has made an impressive comeback since its numbers dwindled to the hundreds in the 1970s. Now there are close to 2,000 in Florida. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raised the species’ standing from “endangered” to “threatened” in 2007.

Fish and Wildlife spokesman Officer Bobby Dube said it’s not likely anything will be done by the state to remove crocs. Previous attempts have failed. The animals have a keen ability and tendency to find their way back.

Also, the agency’s position is that crocodiles are simply “reestablishing themselves in their historic range,” Fish and Wildlife biologist Lindsey Hord said following the March attack on the Key Largo dog.

The American saltwater crocodile, found mainly in South Florida and the Upper Keys, has a reputation for being much more docile and nonthreatening to people than its cousins in other parts of the world.
www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/18/2805479/keys-mayor-wants-crocodiles-removed.html#storylink=cpy

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