FNQ crocodile attack: Katter party renews push for cull

A tragic crocodile attack in Far North Queensland has reignited calls from Robbie Katter for the reptiles to be culled. VOTE IN OUR POLL

• Support grows for croc cull

A tragic crocodile attack in Far North Queensland has triggered renewed calls from Katter’s Australia Party for the “exploding” numbers to be culled.

Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter says the state government must overhaul its crocodile management program to allow the endangered species to be culled.

His comments come after Laura publican Kevin Darmody went missing from the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park on Saturday when his friend heard splashing sounds when Mr Darmody was fishing on the river bank.

Mr Katter said it was “environmental madness” that wild cats, dogs and kangaroos could be culled to manage numbers but not crocodiles.

Crocodiles were classed as a vulnerable species under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 after they had been hunted to near extinction in the 1970s.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was asked on Monday if she would entertain the idea of a crocodile cull, but she did not directly answer the question.

“We know up north, it is croc country,” she said.

“If there is anything more that we can do in terms of crocodile management plans which are worked out with the councils, we will do that.

“I know (Environment) Minister (Meaghan) Scanlon has put forward some proposals about extra funding for education awareness and more liaisons with councils.”

A Department of Environment and Science spokesman said it had a world-leading crocodile management program which had been endorsed by an independent panel of experts.

The member for Traeger, however, said the state government continued to pretend crocodiles did not pose a threat.

Mr Katter said crocodile sightings had exploded in recent years and were being seen in places that had previously been safe to swim in.

“The fact that you can cull dogs, horses and cats but not man-eating crocodiles is the height of environmental madness,” Mr Katter said.

“We don’t want open season, we just want a practical approach (to numbers).

“The answer is simple, we need to control the numbers. Not going overboard but thinning them out will make a difference.”

Mr Katter said the reluctance to control crocodile numbers would ultimately cost people their lives.

He said the predators were now being seen in swimming holes, waterways and beaches that previously had been safe.

“They’re moving into areas that we have never had them before, and every attack is a strong reminder of the lethal consequences of trying to share waterways,” he said.

“Lake Placid is one example of a waterway we used to enjoy. Innisfail, the Gulf’s rivers all need a thinning out.

“But any talk of culling is offensive to the people who don’t live here. But it’s common sense where I come from.”

The department spokesman said the state government had allocated $20m to manage its estuarine crocodile population since 2015.

He said under the program problem crocodiles were targeted for removal.

Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter

SEARCH FOR BELOVED LOCAL

A Far North Queensland publican is believed to have been snatched by a crocodile in a river known to be home to massive salties.

Kevin Darmody, 65, was fishing on the banks of the Kennedy River in the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park about 3.30pm on Saturday, about 340km northwest of Cairns when he disappeared off the banks.

A frantic search was launched on Saturday afternoon to find the well known identity, but attempts to find Mr Darmody were unsuccessful.

Cooktown resident Bart Harrison said his mate was nearby when Mr Darmody, known as “Stumpy”, disappeared.

“A lad came up on the road shouting ‘he’s gone, he’s gone’ and my mate ran down the bank, and said the water was all stirred up and dirty, you could see something bad happened,” Mr Harrison said.

“He was standing right there fishing a few minutes earlier, then he was gone, his thongs were left on the bank.

“He had lived up here since I was a kid, been at the pub a long time, went fishing a lot, he knew the river pretty well, it really is sad.

“I was talking to the boys, they were surprised it was a local,” he said.

Mr Harrison said there were a lot of big crocs in that particular section of river.

Crocodile victim Kevin Darmody

“You see a heap of big crocs up there, what has happened has been going to happen, but it’s actually freshwater at ­Kennedy Bend.

“Tinnies get flipped all the time when people aren’t in the boats, there’s bloody thousands of them, people are fishing and don’t realise there’s a big saltie looking at them from the bottom,” Mr Harrison said.

“Close encounters are really common, they’re everywhere this time of year, and they don’t muck around because they are breeding and get territorial.”

Pilot and owner-operator of JLC Helicopters from Cape York Jack Pantovic said “Kev” was well-known and an avid fisherman.

“He was a top bloke and we all liked him,” he said.

Mr Darmody ran the Peninsula Hotel, formerly the Quinkan Hotel, and his Facebook page depicted him as being familiar with fishing in crocodile country.

A crocodile safety committee member said the national park where the fisherman disappeared had been closed since December.

CrocWise member Dan Hammersley, from Cairns, said the Kennedy Bend campgrounds should have been inaccessible as the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park was closed for the wet season.

“Lakefield is a bit of a tricky one … the rangers haven’t opened the roads or the campgrounds or anything like that,” Mr Hammersley said.

“So anyone who was there shouldn’t have been there to start with, potentially, crocodiles would be still breeding in the area.”

The search area at Kennedy Bend in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park

The Department of Environment and Science website said that the park had been in its wet season closure from December 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023.

Mr Hammersley is the ­recreational fishing spokesman at CrocWise, who discuss crocodile management plans and awareness.

A former commercial crayfisher, he said a male crocodile could have seen Mr Darmody as a threat.

“I guess it’s just one of those things that you know, wrong place, wrong time and not taking the right precautions.”

Mr Hammersley has lived in Far North Queensland for ­almost 30 years and said his former cray boat skipper David Fordson was the last victim of a fatal crocodile attack.

He said Mr Fordson, a 49-year-old married father of one, was attacked while spearfishing off the remote Bushy Island at Cape York.

“He took the day off and got dropped off by the ­dinghy and the boys went fishing, he went spear­fishing, never returned to the boat, and they found his body the next day,” he said.

“We were always in the water there, it’s a long way offshore, but if the conditions are right, yeah, he just got unlucky and came across a large male yeah, that was that was the end of that.”

The search for Mr Darmody continues.

An aerial view of the search area