General News
12 July, 2026
Duo’s croc danger campaign
A LOCAL mother and daughter team is on a mission to bring crocodile safety education directly into local classrooms, targeting areas where the apex predators are a regular fixture of daily life.
Kylie Kuhn and her daughter, Heleana, are ramping up public awareness for their initiative across the Cassowary Coast and Babinda, arguing that formal education is vital for protecting the next generation.
The duo launched the project after noticing alarming behaviour among young people in the region, including when a 17-year-old boy was bitten by a small crocodile while fishing with friends in a creek at the South Johnstone River last November.
“I want to create Rocky the Ranger and go to schools to teach awareness of crocodiles, because unfortunately some of the kids around our local area are doing some things that are really dangerous,” Kylie Kuhn said.
“They’re walking in the creeks, they’re fishing, they’re feeding the crocodiles and not a lot publicly is being done.”
Frustrated by current state government protocols where official temporary alert signs are removed after seven days, the pair began making and installing their own signs in an attempt to maintain a more permanent visual warning.
But they have often found their signs, zip-tied to posts, taken down presumably by members of the public days later.
“Now that crocodile has not disappeared. That crocodile still lives in that waterway,” Ms Kuhn said.
“A sign kind of reinforces the fact that the crocodile has been within this waterway. We put them up ... and people are just removing that because you’ve got people that think they’re saving the crocodiles by not putting the signs up, but awareness is so important before a tragedy happens.”
They hope the initiative will overcome early hurdles, particularly after education authorities informed them that school access requires dedicated backing research.
The roadblock sent Ms Kuhn down a six-month research “rabbit hole”, where she uncovered widespread complacency among both visitors and long-term locals.
She regularly monitors Cassowary Coast and Babinda beaches and waterways, chatting to tourists who wade into the shallows directly past official warning signs.
More concerning to the pair is the misinformation shared online.
“I married a local, and locals go, ‘I used to swim there, I used to do this.’ Unfortunately, a lot of them are still getting online and they’re getting on ‘grey nomad’ websites and stating to people that are coming here that there’s no crocodiles in this water,” Ms Kuhn said.
“It is really scary. Places like Eubenangee Swamp come up if you do a search for kayaking places in Babinda – it’s one of the top 10 kayaking places.
“You’ve got Eubenangee Swamp, you’ve got Golden Hole. Now these are spots that no local would go into because of their high density of crocodiles.”
Through the Rocky the Ranger program, the Kuhns are using colouring pages, school and daycare activities and community events to teach basic survival rules, such as staying far back from the water’s edge when fishing.
“Behind every sign is a much bigger vision. We’re not just putting signs up, we’re building a community awareness program that helps keep people safe while respecting our wildlife,” Ms Kuhn said. She said it was a local project which they hoped would be embraced by the community to make the place safer.
Read More: Babinda