Lost croc found in Cardwell Sergeant Stephen Gillinder, with a freshwater crocodile found in Cardwell. So, a man walks into a police station carrying a crocodile. It's not the start of a joke in a leftover Christmas bon-bon, but a very real Boxing Day experience for police officers at Cardwell police station, nestled between Townsville and Cairns in north Queensland. The station's officer-in-charge, Sergeant Stephen Gillinder, said the 50-centimetre Johnstone River freshwater crocodile was delivered to the station about 1pm on Thursday. ""Every day is different with police work, so you take it as you go,"" he said. ""The first thing I thought was "what am I going to do with this?" And then you figure it's a Queensland Parks and Wildlife issue, so we get on to the relevant authorities right away. ""But that was the most interesting job we've had over the Christmas period."" The freshwater croc was found at the Choice service station, on the main street of Cardwell. ""The snout of the crocodile was bound, so it would appear someone has taken it unlawfully from wherever and it's either got out of a car or got out of a boat, we're not sure,"" he said. ""We're still investigating that at this time."" And it was a long way from home. ""It's out of its home range, where we are on the coast, so it's travelled some distance to get here, which is unusual in itself,"" Sergeant Gillinder said. ""We get salties here out the front - we've got a local resident saltie there at the moment that cruises up and down just in front of Cardwell along the beach there, but freshwater ones? ""And we certainly don't get them handed into the front counter every day. That's unusual."" The crocodile has been handed over to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection for care and release as appropriate. It is an offence to be in possession of any protected species of animal without authorisation. People with information about how the crocodile ended up at the Cardwell service station were asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.