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ONLY one crocodile captured in Queensland waters in the past five years has ever been released back in the wild.
New figures released by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection show most of the 209 crocodiles removed across the state since 2012 have been sent to Far Northern farms and zoos.
The statistics show 13 of the reptiles were euthanised by rangers and only one of the animals was released back into the wild where it was caught.
This was a 2.7m saltwater crocodile trapped during the search for a 4.3m animal that killed Cindy Waldron at Thornton Beach on May 29. The much larger crocodile was trapped and killed a week after the fatality in the Daintree.
A department spokesman said reports from the area indicated the female animal, which was released back into Cooper Creek on June 14, had resumed its normal patterns of activity in the creek.
Most of the 57 crocodiles caught in the Cairns region during the past five years have ended up at the Melaleuca Crocodile farm at Mareeba.
This was followed by nine animals spending the rest of their days at the Harvest Home Station Crocodile Farm at Lakeland and three being sent to Billabong Sanctuary just south of Townsville.
Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland spokesman Des Boyland said the society was satisfied with the statistics.
“We’d rather have them there (in farms and zoos) than euthanised,” he said.
“Whether, it’s appropriate to remove those crocodiles from the areas where they’re being removed, is a questionable debate.
“What impact that’s actu- ally going to have, we don’t know. There certainly needs to be a better understanding of the crocodile situation.”
Heather Stevens from Melaleuca Crocodile Farm said most of the reptiles received from the government had settled in nicely over the years.
She said the current crocodile management program supported the local crocodile meat and leather industry, but there was more the government could do, such as allowing the wild harvest of crocodile eggs.
Environment Minister Steven Miles said results from the department’s upcoming survey of croc numbers would guide whether the current policy of no harvest needed to change.