Girl’s death spurs crocodile dispute
THE death of a girl from a crocodile attack has inflamed debate over managing the predator in the Northern Territory, with experts claiming their warnings about rising crocodile numbers were ignored.
Crocodile expert Grahame Webb said locals wanted to manage the estimated 70,000 crocodiles in the Territory.
“They have just lost a child and the crocodiles in that area generate nothing for the local people, so they get no tradeoff at all,” Mr Webb said. “People in Maningrida are saying to me they’re fed up to the teeth with people making decisions about the crocodiles that they have to live with.Good point. I’m with the locals on that issue. I can promise you if I had crocodiles in my back yard there would be no live ones. Last year we nearly got a management/culling plan together but it was stymied at the last moment by Steve Irwin. The thought of Steve having any say in anything we do in Australia left me a little flat. TV docs of Steve leaping into the water and capturing crocs contrasts vividly with the experiences of us lesser mortals. The food chain heirachal system dictates that we need to take control over their locations and numbers. Locals being eaten is good for tourism but iffy for local morale.
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The “Hunting Solution” is working well in Botswanna I believe. Instead of culling elephant and at best distributing meat to the villagers, putting ivory in the stockpile, trophy hunting at US$20,000 per tag plus many more thousands for hunting operations, local flow ons, ie. your archetypal high value tourist, is a brilliant solution.
Crocs are not game animals for me but that’s just me.
Now, if the Territory had a Cape Buff population……
The NT does have a Water Buffalo population. I nearly got caught by about a ton of angry young bull when I was bush there just two years ago. Crocs…different matter but I’d be happy to hunt them just to reassert my standing in the food chain. I’d love a big skin as a backdrop to my bar as well…..