Northern France beaches closed after crocodile spotted lurking in English Channel

"Beaches in northern France have been closed after a crocodile was spotted lurking in the English Channel. The reptile was seen swimming near to sailing boats in the northeastern port of Boulogne-sur-Mer on Thursday, prompting alarmed officials to close down crowded local swimming areas at the height of vacation season. "We decided to close all beaches nearby and ban swimming just in case," a spokesman for the local council said. "All local zoos and amphibian centers are being investigated to see if any of their crocodiles are missing. We can take no chances."
The alert was first raised via a phone call to French newspaper La Voix du Nord. The caller claimed at least two people had seen the crocodile. Police and fire fighters launched an intensive search for the predator in conjunction with the French army. Swimming bans in some places were lifted by mid-afternoon Thursday, but others remained in place. "

I got this off the RSOE Emergency tracking page's "event description".
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?glide=BH-20100820-27486-FRA

No need to point out the difference between France and USA reaction to dangerous beaches, eh?

there would be nothing to fear

I had to look up saltwater crocodile ( all we have here is alligators).
But the English Channel????"

There is no climate change.

There's a big salty checking out your yacht.



"Due to this species' tendency to travel very long distances at sea, individual saltwater crocodiles occasionally show up in odd locales where they are not native."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_Crocodile

I swam in the English channel back in the 70's.

:yourock:

I didn't swim across. I started in Northern France and ended up back in Northern France.

another possibility is sometimes (nutcase) people get them as babies as "pets." When said pet is big enough to be dangerous, they suddenly wake up and get rid of them. Can't bring themselves to kill the "baby" so they turn them loose to be "free" to kill the rest of us.

very rare.

just a few years back.

No one batted an eye.

scare the crap outta me, though. I'll take a gator over one of them any day of the week!

Would I rather be chewed up or suffocated? Let's not even think about it!

Bunch of sissies!

"I saw a crocodile drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s, his hide was perfect!":party: