Queensland’s most wanted crocodile finally caught in Mary River after five years

HE’S been on the loose for five years — a potential killer that has eluded authorities with his cunning. Now one of Queensland’s most wanted has finally been nabbed.

Clayton Enoch, Jarrad Mitchell and Andrew Coats, indigenous rangers of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (Marine Parks Section) looks at a turtle at the rehabilitation centre in Cairns.

FIVE years after it was first seen, rangers have finally nabbed Queensland’s most wanted croc.

Details are yet to be confirmed but it is believed the 3.5m animal was captured with a nonlethal harpoon in the Mary River last night.

It’s the second potentially dangerous saltwater crocodile to be caught in the area in the past two years.

The croc was first reported in 2009 and since then has frustrated rangers.

It was tricky to harpoon and could not be lured into traps, despite being tempted by baits including pigs and chooks.

In 2009 the croc spent much of its time on the western side of nearby Fraser Island and then roamed over a large area in the Great Sandy Marine Park.

Because of its size, any attack on a human would potentially be fatal. This and problems capturing it made for nervous rangers.

Despite warning signs being erected, people continued to swim, wade, fish and catch bait in foreshore areas.

Rangers compared efforts at trapping the croc to finding a needle in a haystack.

They deduced that because it did not have a territory defined by other crocs, it roamed more widely, making it harder to catch in its Great Sandy Marine Park home.

Saltwater crocs have historically been recorded in the Logan River, south of Brisbane.