A Queensland man has copped a fine for taking a crocodile with him on a flight from Darwin to Brisbane.
In his boot.
The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection prosecuted the 35-year-old Hervey Bay man in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
According to an EHP statement, the man was fined $5700 and ordered to pay $250 in costs, after he had been picked up at Brisbane Airport on December 3 last year.
"An EHP wildlife officer and Australian Federal Police officers searched the man's luggage where they found a male juvenile salt water crocodile in a small cardboard canister inside one of his work boots," an EHP spokesman said.
The spokesman said the court was told the crocodile had been "lawfully purchased" from a crocodile park in the Northern Territory.
Bringing the crocodile into Queensland without authorisation, however, was an offence.
The spokesman said the prosecutor told the court while the size of the crocodile was "essentially harmless" when it went through the airport, a fully grown male salt water crocodile could reach five metres and weigh as much as 1000 kilograms.
"In Queensland, salt water crocodiles are protected under the Nature Conservation Act and taking or possessing native animals without a permit is against the law, with penalties of up to $353,400 or two years imprisonment for an individual," he said.
