This not-so-smart young man jumped into the Johnstone River at Innisfail some years ago to “impress a young girl” but it took just a minute before a croc grabbed his arm and dragged him under water. He was able to punch the croc in the eye and it let him go, leaving him with a badly damaged limb.
Katters Australian Party has fought hard and long to wake up the Labor and Liberal parties to the danger North Queenslanders face every day from an out-of-control salt water crocodile population.
Fresh water, salt water, rivers, creeks, Great Barrier Reef or the sea from the Mary River at Maryborough to the Torres Strait are all home to crocs from 25 cm to seven metres long.
Since 1971 there have been 81 recorded attacks on humans, 16 were fatal, however this government data is not conclusive and a number of attacks in the Gulf, Peninsula and Torres Strait areas over this period have not been recorded or in many cases not reported at all.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fishermen and those living along rivers and the sea have regular interactions with crocs which are never recorded similar to tourists or white fishermen whose Facebook entries often mention encounters with big crocs.
Dogs, horses and even cattle have been taken regularly but these incidents are never officially reported. Three years ago a Facebook video of a four metre saltie snapping up a dog at Injinoo Inlet next to a primary school did the rounds of the internet.
In August 2024, there were two fatal attacks in the far north only days apart.
Again in 2024 a fisherman on the lower Peninsula fought off a large croc which attempted to jump into his boat which he barely managed to keep upright.
There have been many similar incidents which happen regularly but are rarely reported to authorities.
There have been reports of crocs as far south as the Brisbane River. Indeed this publication received several photos of a three metre saltie with a high rise building in the background from a boat operator in 2019. Unfortunately they were subsequently lost in a software malfunction before being posted.
The KAP crocodile management bill will go to a committee for further discussion or amendments before being re-introduced to parliament. Hopefully the LNP will find some backbone to fend off so-called wildlife experts such as the wannabe Steve Irwin reincarnation spruiking in the video.
Michael Binder of Wildlife Unleashed, naturally lives in south east Queensland where the only croc he may ever see is the elusive one in the Brisbane River. https://www.wildlifeunleashed.com.au/
This wildlife warrior playing with a black-headed python should keep his uninformed comments to himself and travel to the north where he could actually get a few lessons about crocs from the blackfellas or he could get first hand experience by taking a swim in the Barron River at Cairns, Ross River at Townsville or a dive on the reef at Lizard Island.
The Barron River not so long ago was frequented by hundreds of kids on weekends or after school swimming safely in any stretch of freshwater or salt. Today a swimmer would not last five minutes.
Cairns News a few years ago offered to chaperone several Labor politicians who claimed not all crocs were dangerous, to take a swim anywhere they liked north of Rockhampton to sort out the non-dangerous salties and we would be on the lookout, from dry land of course.
Strangely none came forward.
