Missing man’s family voice support for croc cull

A family member of the missing man involved in a suspected crocodile attack says he would support culling the reptiles as alarming statistics reveal a major spike in sightings.

A family member of the missing man involved in a suspected crocodile attack says he would support culling the reptiles as alarming statistics reveal a major spike in sightings.

More than 450 estuarine crocodiles were sighted in the first four months this year, with 2023 numbers on track to surpass the 1185 sightings of 2021, according to Department of Environment and Science data.

Katter Australia Party leader Robbie Katter led the calls for the state government to allow the culling of crocodiles following Saturday’s suspected incident at Lakefield National Park.

Laura publican Kevin Darmody went missing from the Kennedy Bend section of the closed national park with a friend reportedly hearing splashing sounds from the river bank.

Mr Darmody’s nephew Darius Darmody said he supported calls for crocodile numbers being culled to help ensure “no other family goes through this”.

Kevin Darmody went missing at Lakefield National Park on Saturday and is suspected to have been taken by a crocodile.

Mr Darmody’s friend for more than 50 years George Kerridge said he was told the 65-year-old was fishing when a “croc came out of nowhere” and “took him into the river”.

“The family are devastated at this moment,” Mr Kerridge said.

The state government data showed there have been 115 sightings in the past 30 days alone and 452 since January 1.

Mr Katter said each sighting represented a potential tragedy.

In a statement, Mr Katter said it was important the public did not put the attacks down to misadventure or recklessness, claiming it was widely acknowledged that crocodile numbers were increasing.

There were 3143 reported crocodile sightings from January, 2020 to May 1 this year, with 162 estuarine crocodiles removed by the department in the same period, the data showed.

Member for Traeger Robbie Katter this week renewed his calls to allow crocodiles to be culled to control numbers. Picture: Liam Kidston

A department spokesman said an independent committee of experts had endorsed Queensland as having a world-leading crocodile management program that was highly effective in reducing the risks to public safety while conserving populations in the wild.

“Under that program, problem crocodiles, those that pose a threat to human safety, are already targeted for removal,” the department spokesman said in response to Mr Katter’s calls.

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

It comes as the search for Mr Darmody ramped up on Monday morning with police divers from Brisbane called in to scour the “challenging” waterways.

Cairns police acting Detective Inspector Jason Chetham said the search included police divers, State Emergency Services and department crews, and drones.

Insp Chetham said the Lakefield National Park, while closed, was particularly challenging for the search parties.

“(Police divers) They routinely go into challenging locations, this is probably the top of the list, very tough,” Insp Chetham told local media.

“There’s about half a dozen in the dive squad and officers watching their backs.”

Insp Chetham said a suspected crocodile attack was one of the possibilities police were looking into.

“It’s a national park and there are wild animals up there, so that’s obviously one of the possibilities that could have happened for sure,” he said.

“We will keep going until we find something.”

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.”