Rangers shoot Biboohra croc on the Atherton Tablelands

After a six-month push to get rid of a large crocodile from a Far North farm, the animal has been shot by rangers in an irrigation ditch as fed-up farmers say they are risking attack to earn a living.

The croc was sighted in an irrigation drain near Mareeba.

After a six-month push to get rid of a large crocodile from a Far North farm, the animal has been shot by rangers near an irrigation drain as fed-up farmers say they are risking attack to earn a living.

On Thursday the state environment regulator announced that a large crocodile near Mareeba was shot on June 10, following a reported sighting of the animal on June 6.

Leading up to the removal a site investigation by wildlife rangers at the weekend confirmed the presence of the crocodile in a farm drain near Two Mile Creek at Biboohra.

Sugar cane farmer George Adil said his neighbour’s farm on Pickford Rd, where the croc was shot, had been reported to the Department of Environment for six months and the animal had become so established that the property had become a tourist croc spotting area.

Sugar cane farmer George Adil. Picture: Stewart McLean

“What I have heard is that (rangers) have been there 17 times and it’s only when there was publicity that something was done,” he said.

There has been recent heated debate surrounding the third attempt to establish legal culling and trophy hunting of North Queensland crocodiles by Katter’s Australian Party and on Wednesday the last public hearing into the Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill was held in Brisbane.

The supercharged debate involving the Katter and Irwin families coincided with a push by Mareeba farmers to extend a non-typical croc habitat area within the Mareeba Shire known as Zone F.

Under Zone F rules crocodiles are targeted for removal regardless of size or behaviour.

A 4.2m long croc found at Biboohra in 2022. Picture: Supplied

“We want the situation to be as it was before. People say times change but you do have to accept this environmental degradation,” he said.

“They never were in these areas, they should not be there.”

Mr Adil said an aerial survey by Mareeba Shire Council recently found 45 crocs in the A-typical zone and now when servicing irrigation equipment there was a real fear of attack.

“You have to have eyes in the back of your head,” he said.

“Something really needs to be sorted out as to where these crocs are coming from and I’m sure they are breeding.”

A petition calling for the Barron and Mitchell rivers, from the falls to the source, to be added to the A-typical zone was launched by Mr Adil at the Mareeba Field Days event earlier this month and has to date attracted more than 500 signatures.

DETSI director of northern wildlife operations Lindsay Delzoppo said rangers located the crocodile on the property after multiple reports from the community.

“By removing the crocodile, we have prioritised community safety and we thank the people who submitted crocodile sighting reports last Friday,” he said.

A report on public hearings held in Cairns and Brisbane will be tabled in parliament on August 20 before the chamber will vote on the KAP croc control bill.

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Originally published as Rangers shoot Biboohra croc on the Atherton Tablelands