Wildlife officers are investigating multiple reported sightings of a crocodile on the beach and in the water at Coonarr Beach and Elliott River mouth.
On 23 January 2025, the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation received five reports from community members of what they believed to be a crocodile.
Wildlife officers are reviewing a short video showing a crocodile entering the water from a beach.
Wildlife officer Alexander Peters said officers were contacting community members who made the sighting reports, and recent crocodile sighting signs would be installed in the area.
“We thank the members of the public who made these reports, and I can assure the community that they will be thoroughly investigated,” Mr Peters said.
“As part of our investigation, wildlife officers will conduct site assessments, including vessel-based searches and spotlight assessments of the area.
“While the investigation is underway, people in the Wide Bay region should be vigilant around the water, which means keeping children close and keeping dogs away from the water’s edge.
“I’d like to encourage everyone in the community to make a sighting report if they see what they believe to be a crocodile.
“When crocodiles are observed on a beach or in the ocean, they are often passing through from one estuary to another and can be difficult to locate.
“They can also move into a river or creek, and that’s why sighting reports are important as they give wildlife officers the most up to date information about the location and behaviour of crocodiles.
“Under the Queensland Crocodile Management Plan, the Wide Bay region is Zone F – atypical crocodile habitat, in which any crocodile found is targeted for removal.
“Crocodile sightings are rare in Zone F, but occasionally crocodiles considered to be vagrant animals make their way into these areas.
“I can reassure the community that any crocodile confirmed to be present in the Wide Bay region will be targeted for removal from the wild.”
Fast facts:
- In 2013 and 2014, two large crocodiles were removed from the Mary River
- They remain the last estuarine crocodiles confirmed outside of Croc Country near the southern end of their range
- Croc Country begins at the Boyne River south of Gladstone
- It extends northward, up the east coast and across far north and northwest Queensland to the Northern Territory border
Crocodile sightings can be reported by using the QWildlife app, completing a crocodile sighting report on the DETSI website, or by calling 1300 130 372. The department investigates every crocodile sighting report received.
Crocs have been in the Mary River for many decades and I have seen quite a few on the west side of Fraser Island, and in the Great Sandy Straight around the Tin Can Inlet
Was your comment meant to name Australian places? I only ask because I’m an old feller from around Carlisle, PA 17015-7865! That’s in the North-East United States, just North of the Chesapeake Bay (By Washington DC). I am SOOO taken in by dangerous / deadly wildlife. I grew up in an ALLIGATOR INFESTED state, Florida! By the time my younger (and only) brother was eleven, we’d already swam with several alligators in our canals! Mind you, I grew up in a very upscale community, Sunrise Golf Village, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL!!! EVERYONE HAD their own “canal gators”! Everyone ALSO HAD built-in swimming pools. In my entire community eighty percent of homes have built-in’s. (VERY UPscale) Butt back to our “canal gators” problem…. WASN’T ONE! WE swam with alligators REGULARLY. I had studied alligator behavior, and came to realize that when an alligator is “THINKING” it’s ONE of THREE THINGS : #1) PANIC / FIGHT-FLIGHT REACTION. #2) HUNGRY / GRAB FOOD NOW and last but not least… #3) reproduction / mating. SOOO WHEN SWIMMING WITH GATORS ONE MUST OBSERVE THE ADVERSARY, OVER SEVERAL TIMES I REALIZED THEY WOULD GO UNDER AND COME BACK UP IN DIFFERENT PLACES, USUALLY IN A ORBITAL CURVE,THE SAME DISTANCE FROM US!!! LATER, WE (I) CAME TO REALIZE THAT ONCE GATORS GREW TOO ACCUSTOM TO OUR PRESENCE, THEIR BEHAVIORS WOULD EVOLVE FROM : FEAR / PANIC / RUN…. TO : HUNGRY? / POSSIBLELY FOOD?/ GRAB IT!!!!? WHEN MY OBSERVATIONS LEAD TO HAVING MY FRIENDS GET OUT OF THE CANAL QUICKLY, THEY DIDNT UNDERSTAND UNTIL I EXPLAINED HOW THE GATORS WERE BEGINNING TO STALK US!!! THEY WOULD GO UNDER AND MOVE TWENTY FEET OVER AS USUAL, BUT THEY WERE A LITTLE BIT CLOSER THAN THEY’D BEEN!!! I KNEW A PREDATORS VIBE RIGHT AWAY, LUCKILY FOR US ALL!!!