On the weekend, the good citizens of the Sunshine Coast woke to the alarming news that a 3.5m crocodile had reportedly been spotted – twice – at the Noosa Spit dog beach.

“At first I thought it was a bit of driftwood, but then it moved,” said local Ross Buckley, who was taking a sunrise stroll on Sunday morning. “I quickly put the dog on the lead and kept my distance. Not sure what’s going on with wildlife lately but this gave me a real fright.”

Noosa local James Graham said images from his boat’s sounding device appeared to show a crocodile. Credit: James Graham

A few hours later, there was a report of another sighting, this time by boatie James Graham, whose photo of his underwater “fish finder” showed a crocodile-shaped image.

“Tell me that’s not a croc – it’s got the tail, it’s got the snout,” he exclaimed. “That’s bizarre.”

Naturally, there was little reaction from the authorities, who are presumably looking for cane toads. A statement from the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation said, “we are … investigating the matter further.”

“The Boyne River near Gladstone, some 300 kilometres to the north, is commonly considered the southern boundary of........

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