{"id":174679,"date":"2025-09-28T05:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T05:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/174679\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T05:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T05:33:08","slug":"the-fight-to-free-old-faithful-the-majestic-wild-crocodile-made-famous-by-steve-irwin-his-place-is-back-in-the-river-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/174679\/","title":{"rendered":"The fight to free Old Faithful, the \u2018majestic, wild crocodile\u2019 made famous by Steve Irwin: \u2018His place is back in the river\u2019 | Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry Lyon was a district ranger in Cape York during the 1990s when he, his wife, Shelley, and their mate Steve started to become concerned about a few saltwater crocodiles<\/a> becoming \u201ca bit cheeky\u201d.<\/p>\n

The population of the apex predator of Australia\u2019s tropical north had begun to recover after being hunted to near extinction a few decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the hunting era, crocodiles were really wary,\u201d Lyon says. \u201cBut there were a few cheeky ones around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three Queenslanders began toying with an idea they hoped might keep both salties and people safe: what if they could instil that wariness back into those cheeky crocs?<\/p>\n

Then Lyon learned that a big male with a distinctive white scar across his belly and jaw was stalking boats in a prized barramundi fishing hole called Old Faithful on the Normanby River in Lakefield national park.<\/p>\n

He knew Lakefield, now Rinyirru, well \u2013 Lyon had been appointed the park\u2019s first ranger back in the late 70s. And he knew he had found a case upon which to test their cheeky croc theory.<\/p>\n

The park ranger fired a few rounds from a semi-automatic rifle into the water near the distinctive croc. And it worked, the 4.2m croc was spooked. But only for a few months.<\/p>\n

So Lyon decided it was time to call in the big guns \u2013 he rang his mate Steve.<\/p>\n

When the man known as \u201cThe Crocodile Hunter\u201d answered that call, he brought a documentary crew along with him. The experiment that followed would be documented in Steve Irwin\u2019s legendary 1990s TV series.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Lyon and Irwin trapped the nuisance croc at the Old Faithful waterhole, put him under a tarp for 24 hours and \u2013 armed with departmental approval \u2013 set about \u201chazing\u201d him.<\/p>\n

They shone lights at him, drove boats near him and made their human presence felt during the crocodile\u2019s ordeal. Then they released the croc back into the Normanby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a complete success,\u201d Lyon says. \u201cEver since, he\u2019s been really, really well behaved.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the three decades that followed, the croc with the big white scar made famous by the khaki-clad conservationist became known by the waterhole he claimed as his own: Old Faithful.<\/p>\n

The Old Faithful waterhole in Rinyirru (Lakefield) national park in Queensland. Photograph: Barry Lyon<\/p>\n

All that changed, however, on 8 September, when wildlife officers of the Queensland Environment Department, deciding Old Faithful was no longer a well-behaved boy, trapped and removed him. A smaller croc, between 3m and 3.5m, was also removed.<\/p>\n

A department spokesperson responded to questions regarding Old Faithful with a statement that said: \u201cPublic safety is our top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the department had been monitoring Old Faithful after reports from the public about safety concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crocodile was displaying concerning behaviour and was ultimately removed to ensure public safety,\u201d the statement read. \u201cHabituating crocodiles is detrimental to the animal and dangerous for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirstiana Ward, an Environmental Defenders Office lawyer, says her client \u2013 the advocacy group Community Representation of Crocodiles<\/a> (Croc) \u2013 informed her that Old Faithful was being held in a government facility in Cairns pending a decision on his future.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n

Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

Old Faithful was a dominant croc. Now the whole social structure will changeBarry Lyon<\/p>\n

Under Queensland law a creature deemed a \u201cproblem crocodile\u201d by the director general of the department can be given over to a crocodile keeper \u2013 or euthanised.<\/p>\n

The department spokesperson did not answer a question as to how many crocodiles removed from the wild were placed in croc farms and how many were killed.<\/p>\n

Ward lodged an application on Wednesday with the director general, Patricia O\u2019Callaghan, requesting a statement of reasons for Old Faithful\u2019s removal under judicial review and nature conservation acts, giving O\u2019Callaghan 28 days to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re asking that no further decisions are made about him \u2026 until we\u2019ve received that statement of reasons,\u201d Ward says.<\/p>\n

Given his size and distinctiveness, Ward says Old Faithful is what is deemed an \u201cicon crocodile\u201d under Queensland law, meaning his fate must be determined in consultation with traditional owners.<\/p>\n

Ward says she understands this consultation was taking place while Old Faithful was being held in Cairns<\/a>. Guardian Australia contacted Riniyirru (Lakefield) Aboriginal Corporation, but they were not in a position to comment by deadline.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Queensland Environment Department said \u201cthe decision to remove both crocodiles was made after consultation with traditional owners\u201d.<\/p>\n

Old Faithful<\/a>Old Faithful in his natural habitat in in Rinyirru (Lakefield) national park. Video: Nicolas Lubitz<\/p>\n

Ward says she is concerned the big croc will not find an appropriate home \u2013 and that, in any case, captivity is no place for Old Faithful.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, that is not a nice end for a majestic, wild crocodile,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Croc co-founder and father of the man who hazed Old Faithful in the 90s, Bob Irwin, is among those who disputed his designation by the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s proved over the time that he\u2019s not a problem crocodile \u2013 he\u2019s a crocodile that has got his act together,\u201d Irwin Sr says. \u201cHumans have always been in his waterhole, fishing and boating and doing whatever humans do, and he\u2019s never been inclined to be a problem to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyon warns that the crocodile\u2019s removal might actually make the barramundi fishing spot for which he is named more dangerous for humans.<\/p>\n

He says it is his belief that it was the smaller crocodile of the two removed whose behaviour had been concerning. Old Faithful, Lyon says, had been keeping that crocodile \u2013 and others \u2013 at bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cOld Faithful was a dominant croc,\u201d Lyon says. \u201cNow the whole social structure will change. And the thing is, Old Faithful was reliable. People knew that he was gonna be pretty well behaved. Whereas now, a cranky, aggressive croc can move in and take over \u2013 then you do have a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Removing Old Faithful, Lyon concludes, was \u201cjust really silly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis place is back in the river,\u201d Lyon says. \u201cThat is where he belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barry Lyon was a district ranger in Cape York during the 1990s when he, his wife, Shelley, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-174679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}