Claims of man-eater crocodile on the loose at Cape York
A five-metre man-eating killer croc some say has developed a taste for human flesh after killing a publican is on the loose and stalking locals in a Far North Queensland community.
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A Cooktown business owner believes a 5m crocodile was responsible for killing a publican and is stalking locals with a taste for human flesh.
The remains of missing fisherman and Laura publican Kevin Darmody were found inside a 4.1m male croc and a 2.8m female, both shot at the North Kennedy River in Far North Queensland in May 2023.
But since then there’s been reports that wildlife officers missed the main crocodile involved in the fatal attack.
Lure Shop Tackleworld in Cooktown proprietor Russell Bowman has begun collating sightings and photos of a big 5m croc known to inhabit Kennedy Bend, which he claims was the crocodile that attacked Mr Darmody.
“We know they took out two crocs, but we still claim that the Department of Environment didn’t get the right one, “ he said.
“We have seen this croc and he is a people hunter and we reckon that he is the one that took Kev the publican.
“They (wildlife rangers) don’t have the time to be there for a while to get to know the ones to watch out for.
“They don’t want to go and shoot every croc in the river so they shot two and ticked the box.
“That one at Lakeland has to go.”
Lakefield National Park is known to have the largest concentration of crocodiles in Queensland which can be found in rivers, creeks, swamps, waterholes and beaches within the conservation area.
According to the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation crocodile sighting portal, a croc was spotted at the North Kennedy River just west of the Old Breeza Homestead Historic Site on August 10.
The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation maintains rangers killed all crocs involved in the fatal attack.
But Cooktown man Jim Symes said he recently had a crocodile lunge at him while fishing from the bank of the North Kennedy River.
He said after hooking a barra the fisherman reeled it in and reached down to grab the leader and pull the fish out when the croc lunged from the water and snapped at fisho’s hand.
He said the closing jaws of the crocodile came within a whisker of snaring the hand and dragging the angler into the water.
“It was not going for the fish,” he said.
Following the death of Newcastle doctor David Hogbin at the Annan River earlier this month, Mr Bowman has spearheaded a campaign to make all Cooktown Shire boat ramps croc safe following revelations that feeding of the croc that took Dr Hogbin had lured the predator into the area of Crocodile Bend.
It’s claimed feeding of fish frames and road kill to the croc directly led to the fatality.
During a 15 minute deputation to Cook Shire Council last week Mr Bowman suggested an education campaign to help make boat ramps safer.
“We don’t want to have Cooktown on world news for this reason,” he said.
“Let’s do a big audit of the Cook Shire boat ramps to make sure they are croc safe.”
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Originally published as Claims of man-eater crocodile on the loose at Cape York
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