Category Archives: Crocodiles

Crocodile discovered in luxury Queensland resort pool sparks new warnings

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Reptile was removed after guests filmed it lying at the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas on Saturday

A crocodile discovered lying in a luxury Queensland resort’s pool has been removed by wildlife rangers, with the state’s environment regulator issuing new warnings about the reptiles.

Two TikTok users posted footage of what appears to be a juvenile crocodile in the lagoon-style pool at the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas, in far north Queensland, on Saturday afternoon.

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Crocodile made famous by Steve Irwin ‘wrongfully arrested’ and should be returned to wild, traditional owners say

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Exclusive: ‘Old Faithful’ was captured after Queensland authorities deemed him ‘a problem crocodile’, but Rinyirru Aboriginal Corporation says the government is mistaken

Traditional owners have called on the Queensland environment minister to return an iconic saltwater crocodile to the wild, arguing his capture was a “wrongful arrest” – but that his case could prove “a landmark” in redefining consultation with First Nations people and the management of crocodiles.

Rinyirru (Lakefield) Aboriginal Corporation chair, Alwyn Lyall, wrote to the environment minister, Andrew Powell, on Friday saying the removal of a crocodile longer than 4 metres, known as “Old Faithful”, from Rinyirru – or Lakefield national park – last month was based on a “flawed and outdated” test of his behaviour and highlighted “a bigger problem in how crocodiles are managed”.

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What a croc: the day a reptile was reportedly seen in Noosa … or was it?

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Claimed sighting 300km south of typical crocodile territory started as a Facebook post before doing the rounds of breakfast TV

It started as a Facebook post on a community noticeboard by a man with a designer dog as his profile picture and just a few friends – but within 24 hours it was doing the rounds of breakfast TV and online news platforms.

The question was: had Ross Buckley really seen a 3.5-metre crocodile while on his “usual 6:30am stroll” down the dog beach at the mouth of the Noosa River? Was Buckley even real?

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Northern Territory’s growing saltwater crocodile population gorging on nine times more prey than 50 years ago

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Research shows apex predators are increasing in numbers and excreting important nutrients into Top End waterways

The growing saltwater crocodile population in the Northern Territory has led to the creatures gorging on nine times more prey than they did 50 years ago, with the apex predators contributing important nutrients to Top End waterways, new research suggests.

Saltwater crocodile populations have increased exponentially in recent decades, from less than 3,000 in 1971, when a ban on hunting was introduced, to more than 100,000 animals today.

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Crocodile culling an ineffective and expensive way to reduce attacks, Northern Territory study finds

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Education campaigns to change human behaviour and relocation of problem reptiles are better ways of managing risk, researchers say

Culling crocodiles is an ineffective and expensive way to reduce attacks on humans, new research has found.

Research published in the journal People and Nature found 91% of crocodile attack victims in the Northern Territory were locals, with human complacency and water-based activities contributing factors.

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Human remains found inside crocodile in Queensland days after fisherman fell into water

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Remains are believed to belong to NSW man who went missing at Cooktown on Saturday afternoon

Human remains have been located inside a crocodile at Cooktown in far north Queensland after a man went missing at the weekend.

Queensland police said a formal identification process was under way and a report would be prepared for the coroner, but the remains were believed to be those of a missing 40-year-old New South Wales man.

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Crocodile suspected of fatal Queensland attack killed as search continues for missing man

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Rangers euthanise large crocodile believed to have attacked man who went missing while fishing near Cooktown on Saturday

A large crocodile believed to be responsible for a fatal attack on a 40-year-old father in far north Queensland has been euthanised.

Rangers had targeted a crocodile with a distinctive scar near its snout as an extensive search for the NSW man near Cooktown entered a third day.

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DNA testing could be used to detect elusive crocodiles, Queensland officials say

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Wildlife authorities are hopeful about a new technique to identify which waterways have crocs without needing to sight them

DNA testing could be the latest tool to help park rangers track down elusive crocodiles in tropical north Queensland.

Researchers from the University of Canberra have developed a technique that can detect minute amounts of a crocodile’s mitochondrial DNA in water samples.

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Teenager dies after suspected crocodile attack in the Torres Strait

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Body of 16-year-old boy discovered with injuries ‘consistent with a crocodile attack’ as wildlife officers search for animal

A teenager has died after a suspected crocodile attack off an island in the Torres Strait, police have confirmed.

Thursday Island water police launched a search and rescue operation near Saibai Island after receiving reports at about 4am on Thursday that a 16-year-old boy was missing.

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Queensland wildlife officers investigate after crocodile leaps into fisherman’s boat

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Fisherman who narrowly escaped attack north of Mackay said he had fished in the spot for decades but never seen a crocodile behave in that way

A report of a large crocodile leaping into a fisherman’s boat has triggered an investigation into possible threats to public safety and whether to relocate the animal.

A man was fishing from his tinnie at Jane Creek near St Helen’s Beach, north of Mackay, about 10am on December 31 when he saw a crocodile approaching the boat.

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Hunt for nearly 70 crocodiles that escaped during China floods

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Extreme weather in the city of Maoming in Guangdong province caused lake to flood, allowing dozens of crocodiles to escape

A Chinese city has launched an operation to find a large number of crocodiles that escaped when floods hit the region in recent days, authorities have said.

A typhoon brought sustained heavy rains to southern China last week, triggering inundations in Hong Kong and other areas.

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More decapitated crocodiles found in Queensland amid reports of body part black market

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Local Aboriginal land council says at least six crocodiles have been found shot dead in the past two months

Queensland wildlife officers are investigating the deaths and beheadings of several large crocodiles near the remote town of Normanton, in what appears to be a growing problem in the state.

Rangers from the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (CLAC) have reported six crocodiles shot in the past two months, with some of the dead carcasses missing their heads.

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Human remains found in euthanised crocodile believed to be missing Queensland fisher

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Kevin Darmody, 65, went missing while fishing on the Kennedy River on Saturday

The search for missing fisher Kevin Darmody has ended after human remains were discovered inside a crocodile found upstream from where he disappeared.

Crews had been trying to find the 65-year-old Laura man since Saturday after he disappeared while fishing along the Kennedy River at Rinyirru (Lakefield) national park on Saturday.

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What a crock: second Stradbroke Island crocodile sighting confirmed as dugong

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After hours of debate among locals, Queensland’s acting premier Steven Miles declared that rangers had spoken

Queensland’s acting premier has shut down speculation of a second crocodile sighting on North Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, revealing rangers had declared new footage taken on Friday as showing a dugong.

After reports of a “credible” crocodile sighting on Wednesday, 400km south of its usual habitat range, the island was again in a frenzy on Friday as residents swarmed to One Mile jetty to catch a glimpse of something moving through the water.

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Crocodile dies after chewing on electric wire after being ‘attracted’ to it

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The 10-year-old male Cuban crocodile at the Smithsonian zoo in Washington, DC, likely bit on electrical equipment in its enclosure

An endangered crocodile in a Smithsonian zoo in the US died after apparently biting into a live electrical cord in its shelter.

The Cuban crocodile, a 10-year-old male reptile, was discovered on 17 December inside its enclosure by staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI)’s Reptile Discovery Center in Washington, DC.

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Queensland proposal to remove more large crocodiles could raise risk of attacks, experts warn

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Almost 8,000 people have so far signed a petition against the proposal which has been described as a ‘silent cull’

Critics of a proposal to remove more large crocodiles from Queensland’s populated far north coast say the move will result in a “silent cull” and could actually put more people at risk of attack.

The Queensland government said crocodile numbers had been slowly rising and it was conducting modelling to see what impact taking more animals out of the wild would have on the species.

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Indonesia crocodile freed from tyre after five years

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Dozens of people drag 5.2-metre animal to shore and cut tyre from its neck after it was snared by bird-seller

A wild crocodile in Indonesia that was trapped in a tyre for more than five years has been rescued, freed from its rubber ring and released back into the wild.

Conservation workers have been trying to lure the stricken saltwater crocodile from a river since 2016, after residents of Palu city on Sulawesi island spotted the animal with a motorbike tyre wrapped around its neck.

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Queensland man uses pocket knife to fight off crocodile dragging him into river

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Cape York man, 60, was fishing on his property when the reptile clamped its jaws around his boots

A Queensland man has escaped the jaws of a crocodile by stabbing it in the head with a pocket knife as it dragged him into a river on Cape York.

Parks and Wildlife officers said the 60-year-old had been fishing on his property on the banks of a remote part of the McIvor River, near Hope Vale, last Wednesday.

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