Bob Katter calls for crocodile shooting safaris after suspected fatal attack
Independent MP Bob Katter says crocodile shooting safaris should be allowed in Queensland’s far north following a suspected fatal attack.
On Tuesday police were due to resume the search for the body of Cindy Waldron, 46, who was dragged under water after entering the water late at night at Thornton beach in the Daintree national park on Sunday.
Her friend Leeann Mitchell, 47, tried in vain to drag her mate to safety and later raised the alarm. The pair were celebrating Mitchell’s recovery from cancer and the ABC is reporting they were were walking in knee depth water.
So far an extensive search has found no trace of Waldron.
Warren Entsch, federal MP for the electorate where the attack occurred, said it was entirely avoidable.
“You can’t legislate against human stupidity. If you go in swimming at 10 o’clock at night, you’re going to get consumed,” Entsch said on Monday.
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But Katter, who holds the neighbouring electorate of Kennedy, said croc numbers had reached unprecedented levels and shooting safaris could reduce the risk to humans.
“The numbers of crocodiles have exploded. All of crocodiles’ predators have been removed,” he said in a statement. “We can put nature back in balance if we have shooting safaris.”
Katter criticised Entsch’s comments.
“I can’t believe that Warren Entsch is attacking the people over this. Defending crocodiles instead of people is stupid.”
Entsch said there was no way the women could have been unaware of the risks involved in taking a late-night dip in crocodile country.
“Let’s not start vendettas. It’s hard enough for some families to make a quid up there in the Daintree, showcasing crocs in their environment,” he said.
“There are warning signs everywhere up there. People have to have some level of responsibility for their own actions.”
Professor Graham Webb, one of the world’s leading authorities on crocodiles, said there was no evidence that Queensland’s crocodile population was out of control, and keeping people safe was about managing human behaviour.
He said croc numbers would have to be culled by something like 95% to make it safe for people to go in the water in croc country.
“I don’t think they are out of control in Queensland, I don’t think they are out of control anywhere,” Webb told ABC radio.
“To make it safe to go back in the water, you’d really have to reduce the population back to where it was at pre-protection levels.”
Webb also rejectsed Katter’s claims that crocs had flourished because their predators had been removed, and the ecosystem was out of kilter.
“There’s no real evidence for it. People fabricate this type of stuff.”
Webb said the Thornton beach incident was a classic case of misadventure, and it was implausible that the women were ignorant of the risks.
“To go swimming at night – in a national park everyone knows has crocodiles – is something you just don’t do.”