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SYDNY MORNING HERALD (Australia) 17 August 05 Croc shot after attack on fisherman (Mark Todd)
The huge crocodile believed to be responsible for an attack on a man in far north Queensland has been identified and destroyed by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service officers.
However, searchers have found no trace of the victim, Barry Jeffries, 60, of Townsville, missing since the attack at dusk on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Jeffries was fishing with wife Glenda in the Lakefield National Park on Cape York Peninsula, north-west of Cooktown, when a 400 kilogram crocodile capsized their canoe.
Mrs Jeffries told police her husband had tried to fend off the crocodile with a paddle but was dragged out of the canoe and under water by the crocodile.
Queensland Police Superintendent Mike Keating said the QPWS officers would examine the body of the crocodile before deciding whether to continue the search for Mr Jeffries.
The man's family was making its way to Cairns to comfort Mrs Jeffries, who had to swim ashore and drive for 20 minutes to raise the alarm at a ranger station. She is being treated for shock in hospital.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/croc-shot-after-attack-on-fisherman/2005/08/17/1123958090492.html?oneclick=true

THE AGE (Melbourne, Australia) 17 August 05 Suspected killer croc shot dead
The crocodile believed to have dragged a Queensland fisherman out of a canoe on Cape York Peninsula has been shot dead.
But the search is continuing for the body of the 60-year-old man.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service researcher Mark Read said the 400kg crocodile believed to have attacked Barry Jeffries was shot just after 4pm (AEST) on Wednesday.
The croc had approached Mr Jeffries' canoe as he and his wife Glenda were fishing in the Midway Waterhole in Lakefield National Park on dusk Tuesday.
Rangers have said the reptile was lured to the side of the canoe as one of the couple reeled in a baited fishing line.
The reptile lunged at Mr Jeffries, who tried to fight it off using a paddle, but it grabbed his arm, capsized the canoe and disappeared into the waterhole.
Mrs Jeffries managed to swim ashore and raise the alarm.
Dr Read said the crocodile was found in the same waterhole where Mr Jeffries was taken.
The search for his body is continuing.
Queensland Environment Minister Desley Boyle, who was in Cooktown on Wednesday, said the crocodile was lured to the couple's canoe as one of them reeled in a fishing line.
"The crocodile followed the bait to the boat," she told AAP.
She said she had been briefed by rangers who told her that's what had happened.
Tourist operators who know the area well believe the crocodile involved in the attack was an old animal which has lived in the water hole, and others nearby, along the Normanby River for many years.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Bait-lured-croc-to-couples-canoe/2005/08/17/1123958117303.html?oneclick=true

SUNDAY MAIL (Brisbane, Australia) 18 August 05 Victim's wife opposed croc culling
The wife of a man killed by a crocodile once wrote a letter to a newspaper saying reptiles which killed humans should not be culled.
Glenda Jefferies wrote a letter to the Townsville Bulletin newspaper last year opposing the culling of crocodiles following an attack on Brisbane man Andrew Kerr at Bathurst Bay, east of Lakefield National Park.
Mrs Jefferies' husband Barry, 60, is presumed dead after a 400kg, four-metre crocodile dragged him from his canoe at the same national park in far north Queensland on Tuesday.
In the letter, Mrs Jefferies said the attack on Mr Kerr was "an isolated incident in an isolated area" which had "the usual bunch of crocodile experts, ex-shooters and pollies calling for a cull".
"Who would benefit most from trophy-hunting and culling of crocodiles? See above," she wrote.
"A sensible assessment of the situation is more worthy than the sensational outcry that culling would save human lives."
Authorities yesterday shot dead the croc suspected of the attack. But an autopsy carried out on the reptile last night by scientific and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) officers failed to find any trace of human remains.
Cairns police Inspector Mike Keating, who is co-ordinating the search for the fisherman's body, said despite the autopsy result, authorities could not rule out that the crocodile was the same one which dragged Mr Jefferies into the water.
"I don't think there's any guarantee that the crocodile would not have hidden the carcass, so to speak," Insp Keating said today.
Mr Jefferies had been trying to push the reptile away from the boat with a canoe paddle when it grabbed him by the arm.
His wife, who was fishing with him at the time, was thrown into the water when the canoe overturned but managed to swim to safety before raising the alarm.
Insp Keating said the crocodile had left bite marks on the paddle.
"We're hoping in due course, it won't be done immediately, that they'll be able to do some analysis of the crocodile that was shot and some of the marks on the paddle," he said.
QPWS officers are still searching a 3km stretch of the Midway Waterhole on the Normanby River, northwest of Cooktown, for any sign of Mr Jefferies.
Insp Keating said four crocodiles were believed to inhabit the area but no further crocs had been captured or killed.
"We're certainly not out there culling all the crocodiles," he said.
The couple's children Kerry and Troy, who are in their 20s, have driven to Cape York to be with their mother.
Victim's wife opposed croc culling