Man designs ‘car shoes’ to avoid squashing crabs

Human Interest News   —   Posted on January 27, 2020

(By Paula Froelich, NY Post) – An enterprising lodge owner on Christmas Island has invented “shoes” for cars to protect red crabs in their annual migration on the island in the Indian Ocean.

Every year, millions of red crabs cross from the island’s forests to the beach to breed over several roads — putting them in harm’s way.

Chris Bray, the owner of the luxury eco-retreat Swell Lodge on the Australian territory located in the Indian Ocean, south of Java and Sumatra, now fits his cars with a “crab-safe” attachment that is placed in front of the wheels and gently whisk the crabs out of harm’s way.

“When the crabs are in full migration, [the national park] closes the roads to allow the crabs safe passage,” Bray told Newsweek. “While some guests love to walk in through all the crabs, staff — as well as supplies, guests bags and elderly guests, etcetera — are not able to walk in. So I had to develop this crab-safe attachment system — the ‘crab-mobile’ — to enable us to keep running the lodge during migration, so we can get guests, supplies and staff to/from the lodge without impacting the crabs.”

“A few people have tried a few things over the years, but I gather none have really worked,” Bray told the magazine. “[The national park] says this is the first invention that actually does the trick.”

Watch a report from The Daily Mail: