How to Behave Around Crocodilians

Almost every fatal alligator and crocodile attack in the United States in recent decades has one thing in common: a person entered, or lingered at the very edge of, water that was not a designated safe swimming area. Alligator and crocodile safety, stripped to its essentials, is a set of habits about where you put your body in relation to the water. Learn these until they are automatic, and teach them to everyone you go out with.

The core rules

• Obey the signs — all of them. Crocodilian warning signs are not decoration and they are not there for someone else. If a sign says the area is crocodilian habitat, believe it completely. The absence of a sign does not mean safety; the presence of one means certainty.
• Only swim in designated, signposted safe swimming areas. This is the single most important behavioral rule there is. If there is no sign clearly stating the area is safe for swimming, do not enter the water.
• Stay well back from the water’s edge. Most attacks happen at the margin. Keep at least a few yards back from any natural waterway, and never dangle your legs, wade, or crouch at the edge to wash or take a photo.
• Stand back when fishing, and never clean fish or discard scraps near the water. Anglers are over-represented in attack statistics because the sport draws them to the edge, often at dawn or dusk. Cast from well back, never stand on a low bank or log over the water, and never wade.
• Be extra careful at dawn, dusk and night. Crocodilians are most active in low light. Avoid the water’s edge entirely at these times.
• Never rely on “I’ll see it coming.” You will not. The entire hunting strategy of this animal is to be invisible until the instant of the strike.
• Don’t be predictable. If you must use a particular spot near water repeatedly — a boat ramp, a campsite tap, a fishing platform — vary your timing and never establish a routine that a watching crocodilian can learn.
• Keep pets and animals away from the water. Dogs splashing at the edge are both a target and a lure, and people have died trying to save a pet.