A north Queensland man says he will fight the State Government to keep his pet crocodile in his backyard.

John Casey from Proserpine, north of Mackay, says he inherited Charlie the croc from his father who died a year ago.

Mr Casey, 49, was just two when Charlie joined his family as a six-inch hatchling after her mother was shot by a hunter in 1963.

His late father, Alf, lovingly hand-reared the estuarine croc, taking her for walks in Proserpine down to the pub for a beer, to school fetes and even a ball.

"My father used to just let her walk in front of him down the street," Mr Casey said.

"She's been in just about every pub from Rocky [Rockhampton] to Cairns. We've got photos of her propped up at a bar in Proserpine when she was about seven feet long."

These days the now three-metre croc is confined to a specially designed pen next to Mr Casey's home.

He says he was trying to do the right thing when he applied to have his father's permit to keep Charlie transferred into his name after his death.

But he says the Government only issued him with a temporary, 12-month permit and Charlie will be relocated unless he meets an onerous set of demands.

He insists there is no way Charlie can get out of her existing enclosure, which is three metres high, enclosed in reinforced mesh and surrounded by concrete walls to ensure she cannot dig her way out.

"That pen was made to a plan supplied by parks and wildlife," he said.

"There was never a problem before, but suddenly there's one now."

Mr Casey says the Government wants him to erect a second fence and undergo training within the next two months to be eligible to keep the animal.

He says he needs more time.

"I clean her pen, I keep it nice and tidy and I talk to her just about every day of the week," he said.

"She answers to me, she'll come to me, I feed her.

"It's like your pet cat or dog - if someone wants to come and take it away, you'd want to jump up and down about it too."

He says the Government seems to be concerned about a caravan park situated next to his home, about 50 metres from Charlie's pen.

"But the caravan park was built in 1985 and the pen was built in 1987. Now it's a problem?"

Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones says she feels for Mr Casey but he must address legitimate safety concerns.

"That's why he's been granted a 12-month permit to keep Charlie but with conditions related to public safety and the crocodile's welfare," she said in a statement.

Mr Casey must show there is a proper enclosure, that he has the capacity to catch Charlie if she gets out and is properly looking after her health.

If that happens, authorities will consider renewing his permit when it expires next October, Ms Jones said.

- ABC/AAP