As there is now only a First Prize, this is equal to Second.
The judge enjoyed the change of point of view from the farmer to the crocodile.
CROCODYLLUS
The Buffalo Creek, the only pub in town, known
to the locals as ‘The Wallow’, has the usual Friday after-work crowd. Four
farmers and farm-hands are at the door-end of the bar, two council workers and
the parks ranger are on stools, mid bar and two older men are at the far end,
eyes glued to the Keno screen. Young Mickey with his tattooed arms and an
ear-ring is playing a noisy game of pool with his mates and a couple of females
are visible through the door to the lounge.
Bert
leans on the door-end of the bar. The worry-lines on his weather beaten brow
are accentuated by the sunlight streaming through the window. His face is drawn
and tired.
“I
lost another of my top heifers yesterday! The crocs are getting really bad.”
“It’s
always the same just before the wet! They’re feeding up before the breeding
season starts.” John finishes his drink and signals the barman for another.
“Pour
one for Bert too! He needs it. He’s lost more stock to the crocs!”
Bert
takes his fresh drink and raises his glass towards John; a tired smile on his
face. Mickey looks up from the pool table, ears not missing much of the
conversations around the bar.
“What
yer lost, Bert?”
“Another
one of my heifers went yesterday. I found the drag-marks on the bank where Two
Mile Creek runs into the river.”
“It’s
got to be a big croc to take a heifer down and you’ve lost three this month! I
reckon you’ve got a killer croc there!” Mickey waves his pool cue in the air, and
then grips it like a shot-gun as he runs across to the bar.
“Hey,
guys, Bert’s got a killer croc! Let’s have a croc hunt this weekend!”
“Not
so fast, young Mickey!” Josh, the National Parks and Wildlife Ranger slides off
his stool and grips Mickey’s pretend shot-gun.
“First
of all, the saltwater crocodile is a protected animal and secondly, we can’t
have you and your mates ripping up the river bank with motorbikes and four
wheel drives, while you’re waving loaded rifles and shot-guns around. That’s a
sure recipe for a hospital-case, if not worse!” Josh gives Mickey a friendly
push back towards the pool table.
The
attention of the bar is centred on Josh. He looks along the bar to Bert.
“Bert,
if you’re free tomorrow I’ll come out to your place and have a look at the
river bank and creek. If it’s what it sounds like, I’ll see about setting a
trap.”
***
I
feel a comfortable warmth on my back as I lie on the bank at the edge of the
river. My eyes almost shut in a lethargic half-slumber. The sun is low in the
sky. I sense a movement. I open one eye and flare my nostrils to catch the
scent. Cattle move towards the river. Four legged, plodding beasts, invading my
territory!
I
slither silently into the water.
The
warmth on my back dissipates in the coolness. I am in my element. Without a
ripple, I submerge and swim away from the bank. In the deeper water I rise
slowly to the surface. My nostrils break first followed by my eyes. The small protrusions
on the stippled surface are barely visible to an unsuspecting eye.
I
can chase these creatures from my patch of river. All I have to do is swim
ashore and rush up the bank. I am afraid of nothing! Deep inside me I feel the primal
urge to hunt and eat. I drift, submerged, back towards the bank. I cautiously break
the surface again and watch the cattle moving towards the water. A reflex flick
of my tail keeps me in position against the slow movement of the river. There
is no need to rush. The cattle will drink and graze on the river bank until the
sun drops below the horizon.
There’s
my mark! A sturdy young heifer; standing in the middle of the group at the
water’s edge. Not too big but she’ll put up a bold fight when she feels my
teeth. I am close to the bank. The late afternoon breeze makes swirling
patterns on the river surface, aiding my stealthy approach. My front legs rest
on the muddy bottom. I allow my rear to sink slowly until I have traction on
the river bed with my back legs and tail.
I
release all my pent-up energy in one violent burst. I leap forward with the
water cascading from my head and shoulders. Cattle on either side roll their
eyes in terror and bellow in fright as they buck away from me. My target stands
mesmerised. She bellows and shakes her head as my jaws close over her upper
foreleg. She attempts to back away and shake me free. I roll to the side and
twist. She loses purchase as her body moves sideways and she rolls onto her
back. I’ve done this before. Instinct takes over and I roll and drag my trophy
into the water.
The
river bank is clear. The other cattle have galloped into the bush and retreated
from my territory. The river does not show the struggle for long. The turbulence
like small whirlpools drifts down-stream and the surface returns quickly to its
serene self.
***
The
early morning sun sparkles on the dew clinging to the grass as Bert guides Josh
to the mouth of the creek. The temperature and humidity are already rising, a
sure sign of the approaching wet season. Josh stops the four wheel drive
several metres from where the creek joins the river. Josh slings his camera
around his neck as he leaves the vehicle and the two men walk to the river bank
where Bert points out the drag-marks.
“It
looks like you really have a big one here, Bert. No crocodile under four metres
could drag a heifer like that! Look at the depth of those gouges in the mud.”
Josh takes several pictures of the marks on the bank and then slowly walks
along until he sees another sign.
“Here’s
what I’m looking for. This is the spot where he lay in the sun before he took
to the water.” Josh takes several more pictures. As he crouches down to get a
close-up of the scratch marks, there is a swirling disturbance in the water
less than a metre behind him. It goes unnoticed by the men as they concentrate
on the signs on the ground.
“I’ll
revise my estimate on the size of this fellow, Bert. There are the marks of his
legs as he lay sunbathing. If you take away the scratch marks when he moved,
the distance between those resting marks puts him close to six metres long!”
There
is another swirl in the water behind them as the two men walk back towards the
ranger’s vehicle. Josh stops and turns back. He takes a tape measure from his
camera bag and lays it alongside the leg-marks on the bank.
“Nearly
forgot that! I need something to show the size of this guy.” He flashes off two
more shots before rolling up the tape and putting it back in the camera bag,
along with the camera.
“Now
we can go. I’ll send these shots of to head office with a request to trap this
one and relocate him further away from a populated area.”
***
I
like it when the sun comes up. I can go back to my spot on the bank and lie in
the warm until it’s time to hunt and eat again. That cow was good last night.
If I don’t catch anything else, it will keep me going for a while. What’s left
is down there hooked under the rock shelf.
What’s
that! I feel a vibration coming from the bank. That’s not normal! I cautiously
break the surface. I see the source. It’s one of those steel vehicles.
The
vibration has stopped. There’s movement. There are two men. They are coming
into my territory! What are they doing? I submerge and wait.
I
remember back to another time in another place. I reacted to the sounds of a
fish in distress. When I got close I saw that the fish was being reeled in by a
man at the water’s edge. He stepped into the water to reach the fish. It was
too easy. I struck. There wasn’t much fight. I rolled under water until the
man’s movements ceased. This was followed by a huge invasion of my territory.
Vehicles were driving along the river bank and many boats with noisy
propellers, ripping through the water. I moved downstream, staying well below
the surface. When I reached the ocean I drifted with the current until I tasted
the brackish flow from another river – This one.
I’ll
have another look. My eyes just break the surface. One of the men is kneeling
down, back towards me, an easy target. My eyes are assailed by a blinding,
white flash. I can’t see! Submerge and cool my eyes. Go back to deeper water.
My eyes slowly get better, I can see again. Swim back to the bank. Go slowly.
Have another cautious look. They are walking away, back to the vehicle.
I’ll
wait til the vibrations have gone before I get onto the bank.
The
sun is warmer now. My nose is almost in the water. No intruders. The world is
mine.
***
“They’re
sending a trap down from the nature reserve. I’ll have it on Monday. I’ll come
out in the afternoon and set it up.”
“That’s
great news, Josh. This is one resident I won’t be sorry to see going somewhere
else. See you on Monday.” The telephone goes dead and Bert hangs it back on the
cradle.
“Trish,
the Wildlife guys are coming on Monday to trap that croc!” Trish walks out of
the laundry, throws her arms around Bert’s neck and gives him a loving kiss.
“That
will take some of your stress away. I don’t like to see you like this. I hope
they catch it quickly so we can get back to normal.” Bert disentangles himself
from Trish’s embrace. “Come-on Trish, I’ve got work to do. I can’t stand here
cuddling you all day!”
*
Josh
and Bert watch Karl, the ‘crocodile expert’ from the reserve, as he paces the
riverbank and the creek looking for signs. He walks back to where they are
standing beside the truck.
“I’m
going to tell you what you already know. This is a big one, could be six
metres, but this trap will handle him, if we can get him inside. This bank and
a few metres up the creek is where he has marked his territory. He’s taken at
least two cows from that dip over there where they come to drink. There is no
place on the bank or in the dip that we could conceal the trap effectively, so
I’m going to set it up in the creek, where there is a bit of cover.”
The
trap is pulled from the truck and man-handled down to the creek. Josh and the
Wildlife team drag it into the creek where a small stand of mangroves is
overhanging the water.
“That
should hold him!” Josh clambers up the creek bank with mud up to waist level on
his waders. Some other members of the team have even more mud.
“It’s
a good job he didn’t come for a visit, some of you may not be here now!” Bert
laughs uneasily.
Karl
looks up as he peels off his waders.
“Oh!
He’s been watching us. I saw several swirls just off the mouth of the creek. I
was ready to call us out of the water if he got any closer.”
“Okay,
what’s next?” Bert starts throwing the waders into the back of the truck.
“In
the back of my ute I’ve got a young goat. I’ll tether him on the bank, just outside
the trap. The trap appears to the croc to be a clear tunnel through the
mangroves to the goat. When the croc is in the centre of the trap, both ends
are triggered and he’s sealed inside. That’s the theory anyway.” Karl fetches
the goat and tethers it on a short running lead, between two mangrove roots.
“With
all this activity, he may not come in tonight, but you never know with
saltwater crocodiles. They think they’re invincible! We’ll be back in the
morning to check the trap.” The Wildlife team get into the truck and Josh and
Bert climb into the ute with Karl.
***
They’ve
gone. The vibration of the vehicles disappeared long ago. No signs of men
anywhere along the bank. There’s a goat in the creek and the cattle are up on
the hill. I wonder what they were doing in the creek. I’ll have a closer look. I
swim carefully into the creek mouth. I surface for a look around. Nothing.
There’s only the goat in the mangroves. It’s very tempting. I leave the creek
and swim parallel to the bank, up the river. The cattle are still up on the
hill. I’ll go back and see if the goat is still there. It is! Instinct takes
over. I swim towards the goat. My legs are among the mangrove roots. I get
ready for the lunge at the goat. Tail and back legs explode; my forward motion
is stopped by a steel grid. I struggle to go backwards. I am stopped again.
What has happened? I thrash around but I am securely held. I cannot escape!
Eventually, I quieten down and lie still.
Men
are coming. My trap is dragged from the creek. A rope is put over my muzzle. I
thrash and roll. The rope gets tighter. A wet sack is put over my head. There
is movement. I don’t know where I am.
Men
are close to me again. The sack is removed and the rope on my muzzle is cut
off. I open and close my jaws a few times. The front of the trap opens. I see
water. I take a tentative step. I’m not attacked. I take another step. I rush
for the water and dive down until I settle on a hard bottom. I stay there for a
long time.
The
sun is filtering down through the water. I surface. There is a grassed area. I climb
slowly out of the water. There is a rock wall past the grass. A man appears. He
has some meat hanging on a stick. He thrusts it towards me. I lunge at him. He
steps quickly back. There are faces on top of the wall. They are making noises.
The more I lunge, the louder the noise. I snap my jaws and grab the meat. I
retreat into the water – my territory!
Maybe
one day I’ll catch the man!
My
new life in the zoo has its benefits.
