KINGSTON, Jamaica – After capturing a large crocodile on Wednesday, residents of New Haven in St Andrew are blaming a pile-up of garbage for the appearance of the reptile.

“I think it’s because of the rubbish and the dead animals that people are throwing in the gully, providing food and shelter for them,” said Oral Laird, who along with two others captured the animal which reportedly measured 10 feet 9 inches.

Residents say a growing mound of plastic bottles and other garbage have completely blocked the flow of water through a gully in the area and crocodiles have begun appearing in the still water.

Laird told Observer Online that the animal swam up to the community earlier in the day before crawling into a neighbour’s backyard in the late evening.

“We tried to catch it and it moved to somewhere different. It was just sitting there at rest for a couple hours and we decided that it couldn’t stay there. Me and two of my friends came up with the idea to catch it and so said, so done,” he said.

Laird said they were “more than concerned” about the emergence of the animal as residents live right along the gully putting the croc in their backyards.

Kedine Malcolm, a resident of over 25 years, told the Observer that while the gully has had garbage issues before, the blockage is the worst it’s ever been.

“Normally, you would have rubbish in the gully, and it would just flow and go through. Rubbish is always in the gully. But the way how it’s just stagnant now, it’s the first that I’m seeing it like that in all these years,” she said.

Malcolm said that the people of New Haven were not the only contributors to the trash issue and the problem was extensive.

“I can tell you this, you can’t see anything going down the gully, because the bottles are just there, blocking everything,” Malcolm said.

It’s behind the large swath of garbage that she says the crocodiles have begun to make appearances.

Malcolm had earlier shared a video showing the large reptile lounging right next to several homes built alongside the gully, hours before its capture.

The men reportedly called the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) as soon as they caught the animal. Laird stressed that they would not have harmed it because “they know the law”.

However, he says he does not think the crocodiles will stop coming to the area.

“They’ve started looking for food down here now because when animals die people throw it in [the gully],” he said.

NEPA’s Manager of Public Education and Corporate Communication, Angela Hamilton confirmed that a team had been dispatched to the area to deal with the reptile and said there is a possibility of residents seeing them with “more than normal frequency”.

“The animal is in its natural habitat in the gully. Based on the video you could see that there was a lot of garbage and the gully would be blocked up with water so it would encourage the animal to come in,” she said.

She urged any residents dealing with wild animals to call NEPA and not harm them.
Hamilton also expressed concern about the garbage and urged residents using the gully as a dump to stop.

The current pile-up has also led to infestations of mosquitos, a health concern.

“The government was spraying the area right after the rainfall [in December], but that doesn’t really help the mosquitoes, because it’s just too much, and they are breeding because the water is stagnant,” Malcolm said.

The resident shared a video of the garbage patch and the flooded gully that she said was shot in December after the rainfall. It still looked the same on Wednesday.

Because of the blockage, the dirty water had begun to spill over into resident’s backyards.

The trash build-up has been ongoing since before Hurricane Beryl in July last year, Malcolm said.

“I remember saying, as Beryl is coming they will probably come clean up the bottles, but even after Beryl the bottles were still there. And then the next storm came after Beryl and it’s still there,” Malcolm said.

She says sections of the gully, nearer to a plaza in the area, are routinely cleaned by the private owners, but residents of New Haven have not seen any relief.

The resident added, “I don’t want to say that I’m 100 per cent sure that it wasn’t cleaned, but I do know that it was supposed to be cleaned and the labourers didn’t show up. I don’t remember seeing it being cleaned last year.”

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“It is definitely affecting the residents, and not only the stench, but just looking at it, it’s disgusting [and] once you see a little rainfall, the roads are flooded because the drains are blocked,” Malcolm explained.

The constant flooding is also putting residents out of their way, as it makes the footbridge impassable at times, she said, forcing them to walk an extra 30 minutes to go around the gully.

Renewing the call for assistance with the problem, Malcolm said, “It is a disgrace to see the gully like this, it is a disgrace.”