Head of ‘Big John’ the croc shown in back of car at Yarrabah
A grisly image of a croc head in the boot of a car destined to be sold on the black market has prompted calls for a criminal investigation into the decapitation of the totem animal.
A grisly image of a croc head in the boot of a car destined to be sold on the black market has prompted calls for a criminal investigation into the decapitation of the totem animal.
The well-known 5m saltwater crocodile known to Yarrabah locals as Big John was drowned in a fishing net before being discovered on July 30.
While the discarded body was dumped, it has now been revealed the head was removed and loaded into the back of a small orange-coloured hatchback.
The death of the croc has caused great sadness within the Yarrabah community which has now turned to anger after learning the animal had been cut up for the commercialisation of body parts.
Totemic traditional owner Warren Martens said someone needed to be held accountable.
“If you are going to chop the head off a crocodile you need to be criminally responsible for it, you just can’t go and do this,” Mr Martens said.
“If the department does not have the appropriate legislation to deal with these people, then go back to the government and ask for it.
“DESTI needs to do a full investigation and tell us what’s going on and the department has an obligation to make sure this doesn’t happen.”
Mr Martens said he suspected the croc head would be sold after being “mummified” and strong demand for exotic animal parts meant the head could be very valuable.
“These people are professional poachers. The department needs to crack down,” he said.
“And there were Aboriginal organisations that were meant to look after this croc and why were nets not removed from the area they were supposed to be patrolling?”
Traditional owner Vincent Schreiber, also known as King Jabaan, said local rangers have been trying to track down the owner of the car in the photo but had so far been unsuccessful.
“Everyone had gone quiet and no one wants to talk but this dark secret has to come out sooner or later,” he said.
“If it got caught in the net and if someone came up and said, ‘It’s my net’, I would have been happy with that, but the cutting of the head is unwarranted and it does not sit right.”
Yarrabah local Darryl Murgah said all crocodiles in Queensland were protected under the Nature Conservation Act, which also extended to protection from Indigenous people exercising recognised rights to hunt using traditional techniques.
“It was a clean cut. The head came off and it was in someone’s car, and it looks like a local’s car,” he said.
“Crocs are our totems, they don’t deserve to die like that.”
Community Representations of Crocodiles co-founder Amanda French said tough new legislation introduced last year to protect crocs meant little if the Department of Environment did not wield sufficient investigative powers to identify suspects involved in the latest killing.
“It’s really concerning seeing people target large crocs like this. It’s atrocious,” she said.
“This is the commercialisation of the body parts and we don’t want to see these things continue without an example made.
“If DESI doesn’t have the power, they need to hand it over to someone who does and we need to see the full penalty issued.”
Ms French raised concern that similar incidents previously reported had not attracted penalty such as the beheading of a croc at Cow Bay in 2023 and the croc’s head would be easily sold through underground illegal networks.
The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation is investigating the latest croc death at Yarrabah and anyone with information can provide it anonymously by calling 1300 130 372 or by completing a wildlife complaint form via the DETSI website.
Queensland Police Service stated Cairns and Yarrabah officers had not been tasked with investigating the crocodile death.
Gunggandji-Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Corporation has also been contacted for comment.
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Originally published as Head of ‘Big John’ the croc shown in back of car at Yarrabah
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