‘LET ME OFF THE HOOK’
Farmer, mangrove plucker and croc killer, Errol wants a fair go
FARMER, mangrove plucker and crocodile killer Errol Copley is to fight an appeal by Queensland Police to increase his $500 fine for the death of a croc to $7000-$8000.
The 69-year-old has spoken for the first time to the Weekend Post about the circumstances, which led to the killing of the 3m-long dangerous predator at his Deeral farm in January this year, and his quirky ‘career’ plucking mangrove saplings along the Cairns Esplanade.
ERROL Copley knotted a 4mlong wire fishing line around a tree on his Deeral farm, skewered a chunk of meat on the hook and drove back home to Woree.
When he returned there was a 3m-long crocodile stonedead on the line and, unbeknown to him, hidden cameras keeping vigil over the corpse.
The footage wildlife officers captured of him dragging away the dead reptile with his ute on January 18 this year would eventually lead to him pleading guilty to taking a protected animal without authority.
The semi-retired canefarmer, commercial fisherman and professional mangrove sapling plucker has been called back before the courts with Queensland Police arguing his $500 fine with no conviction recorded would not deter farmers from slaughtering crocs.
Mr Copley comes across in person as a likeable sort of bloke of the old-school barefoot Far North Queensland genus, a wild old yarn-spinner who’s seen some things in his 69 years. He is also a croc killer. In its appeal to the District Court, police say Mr Copley confirmed to authorities he had set the line to see if there were any crocodiles in the water, as he intended to conduct maintenance on the floodgates to his orchard and wanted to ensure his safety.
Mr Copley now refutes that, telling the Cairns Post he set the line on land beside a small dump on his property because something had been continually scattering his food scraps.
“I thought it could have been a dog, or a pig, or a goanna,” he said.
“They all inhabit the same area there. Unfortunately, it was a crocodile.”
In any case, he said he never expected to catch a crocodile – not to mention one of such impressive proportions – on a 68kg mackerel line.
“It took the bait and the line was so short that it couldn’t get back to the water,” he said.
“It actually swallowed that mackerel hook and, from my autopsy, it pierced her gut wall and hooked her in the heart. The body cavity was full of blood when I cut it open.”
The appeal argues Mr Copley’s crime was especially serious given the death happened “over a prolonged period” and it involved the taking of the carcass. Mr Copley said he removed the corpse and conducted an autopsy so he could get his hook back.
He said his method of cutting the beast down was in line with Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority guidelines on removing crocodiles from commercial fishing nets.
“You chop the head off and drop the guts out so it won’t float,” he said.
“The fat around the neck, the jowl, causes it to float, and the gut contents.”
The post-mortem examination revealed the crocodile was an unusually large female, which Mr Copley said he especially regretted since it should have been taken alive and given to a farm.
“The other interesting thing was that it had a plastic bag in its stomach, a handful of gravel and a one-litre juice bottle,” he said.