Massive Cape York crocodile stalks dog on beach near Seisia jetty in Far North Queensland

Is this Australia’s luckiest dog? A nail-biting video has emerged revealing the rarely-observed stalking tactics of the Sunshine State’s most feared predator. SEE THE VIDEO

Is this Queensland’s luckiest dog? A nailbiting video has emerged revealing the rarely-observed stalking tactics of the Sunshine State’s most feared predator.

The drone clip filmed in the remote Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York shows a large saltwater croc - estimated to be up to 5m long - hidden beneath crystal clear water.

The video shows the animal shadowing a dog up and down the Loyalty Beach shoreline, near the Sea Swift depot.

The dog, clearly oblvious to the croc’s presence in a tense clip, manages to stay just outside the saltie’s strike zone while the drone flies overhead.

A saltwater crocodile has been filmed stalking a dog on a beach in the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York. Picture: Jerry Ahmat

The video bears a resemblance to a clip last year showing the graphic moment a croc snatched an unsuspecting pup from a Napranum Beach near Weipa.

While some commenters have suggested bystanders should have done more to warn the dog of the danger lurking just below the water’s surface.

“Don’t understand why the dog wasn’t called back when the croc was spotted. Don’t love your dog much?” one social media user stated.

“Sad using your dog for bait just so you can get some footage shame on you,” another commented.

A small dog has been snatched by a huge croc near Weipa. Picture: Supplied

But Jerry Ahmat, who filmed the drone footage, said the dog was likely a stray as there were no owners in sight and every effort was made to call it back from the ocean’s edge.

“We have a lot of stray dogs up here, they say it belongs to someone in Seisia,” he said.

“We tried our best.”

The crocodile at Loyalty Beach just north of the Seisia jetty. Picture: Jerry Ahmat

The hobby drone pilot who flies a DJI Mavic air and runs the @jerrysdronepage_ on Instagram said he considered removing the video from his page after the post attracted negative and uninformed comments but his partner Baitha Kawiri convinced him to keep it up.

“It’s a good idea, let’s just all go down near the water and save the dog whilst there’s a croc there waiting for us,” Ms Kawiri said in the comments.

“Or we can try and call for the dog that isn’t ours, because really that’s all we can do from where we (were) standing which was exactly what we did.”

Mr Ahmat said crocs were frequent visitors to the shores around Seisia and were often spotted in the shallow waters around Red Island.

“Especially in the tourist season, when the fish fames get thrown at the jetty,” he said.

Queensland groupers are also known to be a threat to swimmers and in 2019 a child was grabbed and dragged underwater by a giant fish at the Seisia jetty.

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Originally published as Massive Cape York crocodile stalks dog on beach near Seisia jetty in Far North Queensland