Human remains found in crocodile, near Cairns, Queensland in search for Kevin Darmody

The search for a missing fisherman has been called off after police found human remains inside a crocodile that had been put down. 

Kevin Darmody, 65, was fishing along the banks of the Kennedy River at Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park, in remote Far North Queensland, at 3.30pm on Saturday.

Nearby campers recalled hearing screams and frantic splashing with fears raised Mr Darmody was taken by a crocodile.

Crews including the police dive squad continued their search for the 65-year-old on Tuesday but failed to locate him. 

Wildlife officers from the Department of Environment and Science (DES) found two two crocodiles, believed to be involved in the attack, upstream from where Mr Darmody was last seen. 

Mr Darmody was fishing on the banks of the Kennedy River at Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (pictured) when he disappeared (pictured, the area where Mr Darmody was last seen alive)

Authorities conducted a necropsy – a post-mortem examination of an animal – on the two reptiles measuring 4.1metres and 2.8metres on Tuesday afternoon.

Human remains were found in one of the two crocodiles, with police believing the remains are those of the missing fisherman pending a formal identification process.

Search and rescue operations in Lakefield have been discontinued at this time.

Police will now prepare a report for the corner.

The suspected attack has prompted calls for changes to how Queensland manages the reptiles.

Queensland’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter believes the animals are spreading to waterways previously believed to be crocodile-free.

Mr Katter claimed there is no other alternative but to cull crocodiles because the territorial predators are moving up the river system and overtaking the waterways.

‘My immediate response and it sounds a bit blunt, but how about we dump them in your river and see how you go co-existing with them,’ Mr Katter said on Monday.

‘I take my family to the Gregory River and that’s where we swim because there are no crocs but they now coming up the Gregory.

‘At Lake Placid, where I used to swim as a kid, you can’t swim there anymore either.’

Wildlife officers conducted a necropsy on the two reptiles, measuring 4.1metres and 2.8metres, believed to be involved in the attack. Human remains were found in on of the crocodiles

 Queensland MP Robbie Katter (pictured) is urging the state government to issue a crocodile cull following fears a  65-year-old man is dead after he was snatched by a crocodile while fishing

By the 1970s, estuarine (saltwater) crocodiles were hunted to near extinction and as a result were classed as a vulnerable species under the 1992 Nature Conservation Act.

The Queensland Government has a statewide crocodile management program which ensures public safety while enabling the ongoing survival of wild crocodiles. 

Problem crocodiles are removed from the wild under Queensland’s management plan. 

Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park, where a crocodile is believed to have snatched Mr Darmody, is one of only six key areas for saltwater crocodile conservation in Queensland. 

Mr Darmody, a publican in the rural town of Laura – about 75km from where he disappeared – was a keen angler who frequently documented his fishing trips on social media.

Friends said Mr Darmody, who was also known as ‘Stumpy’, had a deep knowledge of fishing in dangerous waters and was aware of the risks. 

‘He wasn’t a tourist or a visitor to Cape York, he is or was a local, he knew the dangers, just bloody bad luck – in a split second you can be taken by a croc,’ one person wrote. 

The keen angler frequently documented his fishing trips on social media, with his most recent post, dated from 2015, showing a series of pictures of a crocodile mauling.

Tributes flowed for Mr Darmody, who ran the Peninsula Hotel in Laura, with some describing him as a ‘bloody top bloke’ and a ‘legend’. 

Friends said Mr Darmody (pictured), who was also known as ‘Stumpy’, had a deep knowledge of fishing in dangerous waters and was aware of the risks

His most recent Facebook post (pictured) was a series of pictures of a crocodile mauling what looks like a smaller, juvenile crocodile in a stretch of river he said was a friend’s favourite fishing hole

Bart Harrison, from Cooktown, said his friend was nearby when Mr Darmody disappeared.

‘A lad came up on the road shouting ‘he’s gone, he’s gone’ and my mate ran down the bank and said the water was all stirred up and dirty, you could see something bad happened,’ Mr Harrison told The Cairns Post.

‘He was standing right there fishing a few minutes earlier, then he was gone, his thongs were left on the bank,’ Mr Harrison added. 

‘He had lived up here since I was a kid, been at the pub a long time, went fishing a lot. He knew the river pretty well, it really is sad.’