Croc free zone

The latest we have on the ongoing croc saga here in the Top End is a leaked plan from the government to create a croc free zone within a 50 kilometre radius of Darwin. From the little bit we know about this from the NT News story on Thursday it appears that within this area all crocodiles will be trapped or shot on sight, with trapped animals to go to croc farms to utilise the meat and skins.

Is this a case of a little sensationalism or goverment spin at a time where the climate on croc issues is at a very high level?

We have always had a no-tolerance zone within the urban and rural areas including Darwin Harbour. Any crocodiles within these areas are trapped and removed for public safety. This new plan extends the area out towards the Adelaide river including floodplains leading up to it.

This system has a very high density of resident saltwater crocodiles that are highly mobile and have seasonal variations in their territory range.
Not only will the government have to spend a very large amount of time catching hundreds of crocodiles that have home territories overlapping this area and that also move, these plans will also disrupt the population dynamics on the Adelaide River that is a major source of crocodile-based tourism and egg harvesting for traditional owners.

This would appear to be a logistical nightmare to ensure these regions are croc free considering at present they are already having a hard time keeping the harbour and Howard River catchment croc free. In knowing that you can never catch every crocodile this policy would appear to mislead people into thinking it's safe to swim again in these rural areas. A crocodile may move into an area overnight from an area 20 to 30 km's away, just after a monitoring spotlight survey declares it croc free!

The strongest thing that is needed now is a much larger public education campaign to remind people of the dangers of swimming in waterways around the Top End and to educate people on how crocodiles behave and interact with the environment that we share with them. The Government used to promote a "Living with Crocodiles" campaign in the 80's when croc numbers increased, but these days we seem reliant on the NT News journalism as the driving force behind keeping crocodiles in people's minds. The positive step from the new croc policy is a greater focus on education.

Community debate on whether culling is the solution or a stronger focus on education and safety seems to be dividing parts of the community and it has been in the papers and airwaves every day for the past few weeks. A stronger more dramatic approach from the government may be the only way forward for them to keep the community sated. The government's new crocodile management plan will be released on Wednesday and we should expect a lot of debate on this to continue over the coming days.

Should we cull crocodiles?

The recent debate of whether there should be a widespread cull of saltwater crocodiles appears to be deepening. Recent weeks have seen an increase in crocodile related incidents as well as more sightings of crocodiles within urban and rural areas of the Northern Territory. People have become much more vocal within the community and opinions are becoming increasingly polarised.

One of the main issues that seems to be coming out of this is that the government wildlife agency responsible for crocodile management haven't the sufficient numbers of staff to control the increased numbers of crocodiles moving into these areas of concern. This has then increased the danger to the public who are accustomed to the numbers being minimal.

At present the crocodile management team which consists of 3 people have been working around the clock to locate and capture all the crocodiles being reported, keeping in mind that for sightings of crocodiles they are relying on the general public and that many more crocodiles may be unreported. The crocodile team had to travel to Katherine (300km from Darwin) yesterday to spotlight and attempt to harpoon a crocodile reported near a caravan park. After a late night and unsuccessful search for that animal they are now on their way back to Darwin because of a crocodile attack on a dog that occured this morning while they were away.


Watch the video below for a more in-depth view of this subject from ABC Stateline.