{"id":339203,"date":"2025-12-10T10:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T10:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/339203\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T10:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T10:30:10","slug":"new-crocodile-management-plan-draws-mixed-response-in-north-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/339203\/","title":{"rendered":"New crocodile management plan draws mixed response in north Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new state government crocodile management plan has drawn mixed responses in far north Queensland about whether changes will make communities safer.<\/p>\n

The plan, introduced to parliament on Tuesday,<\/a> expands crocodile removal zones, which the state government said will make problem crocodiles easier to remove.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They include more proactive crocodile removal at Tyto Wetlands in Ingham, the removal of problem reptiles from three high-use waterholes on the Mulgrave River, and crocodile removal from the Barron River and Southedge Dam near Mareeba after community reports.<\/p>\n

Mareeba cane farmer George Adil has pushed for changes after repeated saltwater crocodile sightings near his and neighbouring properties along the nearby Mitchell River during heavy rain.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The management plan addresses concerns after Mareeba residents signed a petition asking the state government to remove crocodiles from their rivers and creeks. (Charlie McKillop: ABC Far North)<\/p>\n

“Hopefully it’s going to get rid of them all because they never were here [in the past],” Mr Adil said.<\/p>\n

Locals have long called for action, believing the crocs were never previously found there<\/a> but escaped from a crocodile farm years ago, though that has never been confirmed.<\/p>\n

The cane grower said he hoped the new rules would ensure faster removal of crocodiles around his property.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Mareeba cane farmer George Adil is fearful when he has to enter the river on his property due to crocodiles. (ABC News: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

Mr Adil said he had spotted them near his water pumps, which he said put him in danger while trying to clean them.<\/p>\n

“In the past, we’ve notified the parks and wildlife and days [have] gone by; nothing seemed to happen for ages, really,” Mr Adil said.<\/p>\n

“We just wanted to have a bit more protection with the law in case someone took the law into their own hands and did what to do with any other pests around the place.”<\/p>\n

The release of the plan comes amid debate on proposed laws to allow crocodile culling and safari-style hunting trips introduced by the Katter’s Australian Party (KAP).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The state government says the new management plan aims to make it easier to remove problem crocodiles. (ABC Far North: Christopher Testa)<\/p>\n

The legislation was voted down in July <\/a>after a parliamentary committee examining it recommended against its passage.<\/p>\n

False sense of security without education<\/p>\n

Co-founder of Community Representation of Crocodiles, Amanda French, said the new plan ignored expert advice that human behaviour was the greatest risk for croc attacks.<\/p>\n

“Crocodile removals do not make it safer \u2014 In fact, it leads to a false sense of security,” Ms French said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amanda French says the best way to reduce crocodile attacks is through educating people. (Australian Story)<\/p>\n

Ms French said she supported removing problem animals, but widening zones risked unnecessary killing.<\/p>\n

She said the government was “failing public safety messaging around croc safety”.<\/p>\n

“They’re the areas that we need to invest in that will have tangible, real outcomes for public safety, not removing crocodiles, not widening crocodile removal zones.”<\/p>\n

Rinyirru (Lakefield) Aboriginal Corporation Chairperson Alwyn Lyall agreed there needed to be more community education alongside proper consultation with traditional owners, which the government promised in the new plan.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Lyall said he had no faith it would occur after the recent removal of a totem crocodile, Old Faithful, from his own country, further north in the Daintree.<\/p>\n

He said the government had failed to provide its reasoning for the removal.<\/p>\n

\"Indigenous<\/p>\n

Alwyn Lyall says he has no confidence the government will properly consult traditional owners. (ABC Far North: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

“I think the government doesn’t consult with traditional owners appropriately enough,” the Kuku Yalanji man said.<\/p>\n

Mr Lyall said he had proposed better use of local rangers and awareness videos, but the government had “knocked it back”.<\/p>\n

He said they still wanted the government to create a Crocodile Authority where traditional owners could respond and create management plans for problem crocodiles on their country.<\/p>\n

Councils welcome changes<\/p>\n

Under the management plans, Tyto Wetlands in Ingham’s centre will become an active removal zone and be proactively patrolled by Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers.<\/p>\n

Hinchinbrook Shire Mayor Ramon Jayo said proactive patrols were overdue for Tyto Wetlands.<\/p>\n

In May this year, a 3.4 metre estuarine crocodile was captured and removed from the Wetlands by rangers over concerns of the animal’s proximity to a high-use area and children’s playground.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Ramon Jayo says the crocodile management changes were overdue for his community. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of crocodiles in there and there’s a lot of pedestrian activity that occurs,” Mr Jayo said.<\/p>\n

“[Tyto Wetlands] is a pretty good tourist attraction because of the quantity of birdlife in there.”<\/p>\n

But Mr Jayo warned against complacency and said the risk from the apex predators would always exist.<\/p>\n

“You are in croc country so you must be croc wise.”<\/p>\n

“When you go into Tyto, you should always expect there will be a crocodile there and you just can’t lose sight of that fact,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said any action to reduce the number of the species was positive.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mr Jayo warned the community that they were still in crocodile country, despite greater management of the apex predators. (ABC North Queensland: Rachael Merritt)<\/p>\n

Mareeba Deputy Mayor Lenore Wyatt also backed the changes.<\/p>\n

“The increased patrols and the inclusion of the Barron River in the removal zones is a commonsense step toward keeping our residents and visitors safe,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new state government crocodile management plan has drawn mixed responses in far north Queensland about whether changes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[188585,64,63,188586,188584,128,338],"class_list":["post-339203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-management","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crocodile-country","tag-crocodile-management","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}