Authorities on Monday killed a large crocodile believed to be responsible for the second fatal attack in a month.
The latest victim was a 40-year-old man from New South Wales state who was fishing on Saturday while on holiday with his wife and children, crossing into Queensland state with a trailer, police said. Government conservation officer Daniel Guymer said the man fell into the Annan River south of Cooktown. His body has not been found.
Cooktown resident Bart Harrison said the steep bank collapsed beneath the victim’s feet, sending him more than 20 feet into the river, which is known to be a crocodile habitat.
“It’s a straight line up and down. It’s a dangerous place to fish,” Harrison said. “We grew up watching crocodiles swim around and I wouldn’t go near that edge. There’s always one or two big crocodiles living there.”
Guymer said the suspected crocodile, which had a scar on its snout, was found in a creek about 4km from the crash site. Witnesses have seen crocodiles in the area, known to locals as Crocodile Bend.
“Wildlife officers humanely euthanized a large crocodile approximately 16 feet long believed to be responsible for the fatal attack,” Guymer told reporters. “The animal had markings on its snout that indicated it was the target animal,” he added.
The man’s death occurred after a 12-year-old girl kidnapped She was killed by a crocodile on July 2 while swimming with her family in a creek in the neighbouring Northern Territory. Her remains were found days later and rangers shot dead her 4-metre killer.
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It is the third fatal crocodile attack in Australia this year, close to the highest annual toll on record, four in 2014. A 16-year-old boy was killed while swimming off a Queensland island on April 18.
Brandon Sideleau, a crocodile expert at Charles Darwin University, said there were likely at least two large crocodiles in the bend of the river where the latest incident occurred because people were illegally feeding the crocodiles roadkill, such as dead kangaroos. The crocodiles had learned to associate human presence with food, he added.
The crocodile population has exploded in Australia’s tropical north since the reptiles, which can live up to 70 years, became a protected species under Australian law in the 1970s.
Sideleau says there is little evidence to explain the fluctuations in the annual number of crocodile attack victims in Australia. For long periods in recent decades, there were no deaths.
“All attacks in Australia can be prevented by taking appropriate precautions,” he said.
Government authorities are investigating a video posted on social media that appears to show a crocodile being fed in the same river.
“Very risky and very reckless”
Guymer warned that feeding dangerous wild animals in Queensland was an offence punishable by a fine of almost A$6,500 ($4,200).
“This is of course very, very concerning behavior. It is very risky and very reckless,” he said.
After the girl’s death, the Northern Territory government said crocodiles could not outnumber humans. The government had previously said it “uses a strategic risk-based management approach to determine the level of management activity” for crocodiles.
“We live in a place where crocodiles are occupying our waterholes,” Northern Territory Police Minister Brent Potter said last week, according to CBS News partner BBC News. “It’s just a reminder to remind us to stay out of the water as much as possible.”
Crocodiles are very mobileand have periodically had dangerous encounters with people in Australia. Last month, police shot dead a saltwater crocodile that had been terrorizing a remote Australian community by eating dogs and pouncing on children. The reptile was cooked and eaten by local residents.
On New Year’s Eve a crocodile jumped on board a fishing boat in Queensland while the man was fishing in a creek. He was not injured.
In May 2023, a man snorkelling off the coast of northern Queensland, Australia, was attacked by a crocodile – and survived by opening his jaws cut off his head. That same month, the remains of an Australian who had disappeared during a fishing trip in crocodile-infested waters were found inside two of the reptiles.
