General News
14 July, 2026
Mother and daughter’s croc danger crusade
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,” she said.
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.
Through the Rocky the Ranger program, the Kuhns are using colouring-in 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.
