Dramatic details emerged Tuesday after police said human remains were found inside a large crocodile suspected of killing a tourist in Australia’s second fatal attack in about a month.
The latest victim was 40-year-old doctor Dave Hogbin, who fell from a steep bank Saturday into the Annan River south of Cooktown in Queensland state, his family said in a statement. The general practice doctor from Newcastle in New South Wales had been traveling on a camping vacation through Queensland with his wife Jane Hogbin and their three sons aged 2, 5 and 7 years. Cooktown is more than 1,500 miles from Newcastle by road.
Wildlife rangers on Monday euthanized a 16-foot crocodile in a creek 2.5 miles from where Dave Hogbin disappeared. The crocodile had scars on its snout like those witnesses described seeing on a reptile in the vicinity of the disappearance, officials said.
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The human remains found inside the crocodile during an examination in Cooktown were believed to be Hogbin, a police statement said. Further testing would be conducted to positively identify the remains.
The family statement corrected police reports that Dave Hogbin had been fishing at the time he fell. He had been walking along a riverbank path 16 feet above the river when part of the bank gave way, according to his family.
“It caused Dave to fall down into the river below, and despite being tall, strong and fit, the conditions of the terrain meant Dave was unable to get himself out of the water,” the statement said. His wife heard the splash when he fell and went to his aid, but “due to the steepness and slipperiness of the bank, she was able to grab his arm, but soon began slipping into the river herself.”
“Dave’s final, decisive act was to let go of Jane’s arm when he realised she was falling in, despite knowing she was his only lifeline. Within moments, he was taken,” the statement added.
Jane Hogbin said her husband’s decision to release her saved her life.
“He saved me – his last act was to not pull me in with him. I’m glad I’m still here because it could have been a millionfold worse for everyone involved, not just the boys,” she said.
Family friend Alex Ward said a small consolation was that none of the three children saw the tragedy unfold.
Ward, who started a GoFundMe for the family, wrote: “Dave’s family and friends are completely broken. But we are so incredibly lucky to have had Dave in our lives.”
Dave Hogbin fell at a location known as Crocodile Bend, which is popular among tourists who come to see large crocodiles.
Police Acting Chief Superintendent Shane Holmes told the media on Monday he believed Hogbin fell by accident.
Hogbin’s biography at his workplace, Jewells Medical Centre, said he graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2014 after a career in real estate and nuclear medicine.
“In his spare time, Dave enjoys four-wheel driving and camping with his wife and three boys,” the biography says.
The tragedy came after a 12-year-old girl was snatched on July 2 while swimming with her family in a creek in the neighboring Northern Territory. Her remains were found days later and wildlife rangers shot dead a 14-foot crocodile.
There have been three fatal crocodile attacks in Australia this year, close to the worst annual death toll on record of four in 2014. A 16-year-old boy was killed while swimming off a Queensland island on April 18.
The crocodile population has exploded across Australia’s tropical north since the predators became a protected species in the early 1970s. Hunting for their skins since the 1950s had almost wiped them out.
Crocodiles are highly mobile, and have periodically had dangerous encounters with people in Australia. In June, police shot and killed a saltwater crocodile that was terrorizing a remote Australian community by eating dogs and lunging at kids. The reptile was cooked and eaten by local residents.
On New Year’s Eve, a crocodile jumped on board a fisherman’s boat in Queensland while the man was fishing at a creek. He was not hurt.
In May 2023, a man snorkeling off the coast of North Queensland, Australia, was attacked by a crocodile – and survived by prying its jaws off his head. That same month, the remains of an Australian man who went missing on a fishing trip in crocodile-infested waters were found inside two of the reptiles.