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A traditional owner has called Queensland’s environment minister a liar over the removal of a culturally important crocodile taken to Australia Zoo, more than 2000 kilometres from the national park where it lived.
The 4.5-metre male crocodile, known as Old Faithful, had been relocated to the zoo on the Sunshine Coast following reports it was exhibiting dangerous behaviour towards humans in the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park, 400 kilometres north of Cairns.
Alwyn Lyall visiting the crocodiles at the Cairns facility. Credit: Alywn Lyall
The crocodile was captured by Department of Environment officers in early September and taken to a government facility in Cairns along with another 3.5-metre crocodile from the national park.
Old Faithful is a well-known crocodile with a distinctive mark on its head which rose to fame when it featured on Steve Irwin’s show The Crocodile Hunter in 1996.
In the episode, which was referenced by Australia Zoo in its Instagram Post welcoming the animal, Irwin traps and then releases Old Faithful – a technique known as “hazing” – which was meant to give crocodiles a fear of humans.
Once a crocodile reaches four metres in length it is considered an “icon” under Queensland law, and special rules apply to its moving.
Old Faithful in his natural habitat.Credit: CROCS
The government said it consulted traditional owners about where Old Faithful would be relocated, but Alwyn Lyall, the chair of the Rinyirru (Lakefield) Aboriginal Corporation, was not satisfied.
He said the only correspondence the corporation received was an email asking what the corporation’s preferred new home for Old Faithful would be.
Lyall said the corporation preferred the crocodile be released to a farm closer to country or to Croc Country Australia, a facility in Babinda, about an hour south of Cairns, which had taken in an icon crocodile from Rinyirru before.
Old Faithful in captivity in Cairns.Credit: CROCS
He wrote to Environment Minister Andrew Powell requesting Old Faithful be released back into the national park in October, and said he spoke with Powell when he visited the park while the crocodiles were at the Cairns facility.
“He said in good faith he’d do the right thing, and I believed him,” Lyall said.
“Now that crocodile is on the Sunshine Coast — it goes to show Andrew Powell is nothing but a liar.
“No consulting and no transparency from them at all.”
Asked about the interaction with Lyall, Powell said he acknowledged the community’s interest in the fate of Old Faithful, and that he would respond to people who contacted him about it.
“I and my department work carefully to ensure human safety and conservation outcomes are met,” he said.
“The department has followed all correct processes.”
Lyall said he was not told of Old Faithful’s move to Australia Zoo at the weekend, instead reading about it in a newspaper.
On Tuesday, a department spokesperson said the zoo was chosen after various expressions of interest were received.
Croc Country Australia owner Jesse Crampton said he had expressed interest to the government in acquiring the crocodile but had not heard back.
Lyall had been visiting the animals at a holding facility in Cairns, and questioned whether the government even got the right crocodile.
The smaller crocodile is missing its right back foot.Credit: Alwyn Lyall
He said the second crocodile, which was underweight and missing a foot and a chunk of its tail, was much more likely to be the problem.
“You could see he was very underweight, very undernourished,” the Kuku Warra man said.
“You could see he hadn’t had a proper feed in a while.
“I believe Old Faithful was taken out of the system, wrongly accused of attacking fishermen when the culprit was right there.”
A department spokesperson said both crocodiles had been exhibiting dangerous behaviour towards people.
“We do not remove crocodiles from the wild without a genuine and legitimate reason to do so,” they said.
Lyall said Old Faithful was not just an icon, but also a totemic animal, making its removal even harder for families connected to it.
“It’s like going to a funeral, it’s like losing a member of your family,” he said.
He said he would not give his approval to the removal of any more icon crocodiles from the national park.
“If a crocodile starts to be a problem, then we’ll just stop people going there. The visitors are the problem, not the crocodile,” he said.
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