SUNDAY MAIL (Brisbane, Australia) 05 February 06 The wrong croc (David Murray)
The wife of a man killed in a crocodile attack believes rangers might have shot the wrong one.
Glenda Jefferies, speaking for the first time about the attack, says she still remembers the unmistakable markings on the crocodile that killed her husband.
"The description I gave them isn't the same as the one that was shot," she told The Sunday Mail.
The Townsville couple had been in a canoe on Lakefield National Park's Normanby River when the crocodile attacked in August.
Mr Jefferies, 60, was grabbed by the arm and dragged into the water, never to be seen again.
This week, his wife said she bore no grudge against the crocodile or Lakefield, 240km northwest of Cairns: "Both my husband and I had a real respect for the wildlife and a lot of fondness for Lakefield, and that hasn't changed."
But she admitted the couple "let their guard down" after 17 years of travelling to the remote park.
"Probably I think we got too comfortable having gone to the area for many years," she said.
Ms Jefferies broke her silence as a report revealed Lakefield had been a "dumping ground" for rogue crocs.
American scientist Chris Kofron's report reveals rangers moved 12 problem crocodiles to the park between 1998 and 2001.
Federal MP and former crocodile farmer Warren Entsch called for an investigation of whether a relocated croc was behind last year's attack.
Mr Entsch said crocodiles should always be relocated to secure farms – the practice now employed by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
Immediately after the attack on Mr Jefferies, a senior parks official told The Sunday Mail no crocodiles had been relocated to Lakefield since the mid-1990s.
Ranger Mark Read yesterday said there had been no attempt to cover up the relocation of crocodiles to Lakefield: "It's simply we just had our dates mixed up."
And he said there was no evidence a relocated croc was involved in last year's fatal attack: "We certainly consider the animal we shot is the animal most likely to be responsible for the attack on Barry Jefferies."
The wrong croc