Crocodile hunter fined
AN illegal crocodile hunter has been fined after police found a photo he had kept of himself posing with a dead 4m croc.
Peter Jeffrey Van Straten, 41, shot the crocodile in a remote part of Cape York Peninsula four years ago was fined $750 yesterday.
The case comes as police warn they are about to step up patrols to stop illegal hunting near Lakefield National Park.
Van Straten pleaded guilty in Cairns Magistrates’ Court to taking a protected animal and not correctly storing a gun.
The court heard police visited Van Straten’s mother’s Machans Beach home last month and found a photo of him, and others, with a dead estuarine crocodile.
The raid occurred after police got a tip-off from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
The crocodile was believed to have been killed in the Lakefield National Park region.
Defence counsel Bebe Mellick said it was only because his client co-operated that police were able to lay charges.
"This case goes back four years," he said.
"Police may have had difficulty proving the charge without his co-operation."
Magistrate Joe Pinder imposed the fine, also ordering the defendant pay $250 for the gun offence.
He did not record convictions, accepting the defendant was of good character.
Mareeba Stock Squad detective Acting Sgt Troy Whittle said police with the QPWS would be out in force to stop illegal hunting and trespassing on private property and Lakefield National Park during the Cooktown Pig Hunt in early October.
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