Right: Smile please! This Israeli backpacker, working as a fisherman on the South Alligator River, NT, saw a croc heading towards his boat. He pointed it out to a fellow-worker and asked that a photo be taken. These two images show the backpacker getting much more than he bargained for.Arguments against culling saltwater crocodiles
1. No area can be made crocodile-freeProfessor Craig Franklin, a crocodile expert at the University of Queensland, has warned that culling crocodiles in a particular area would be 'no solution'.
The professor has noted that crocodiles can cover large distances in a very short time and that because an area had had its current largest crocodiles shot, this would be no guarantee that they would not soon be replaced by others. Indeed the territoriality of large male crocodiles means the younger males have to find relatively crocodile-free areas in which to establish themsleves. Once crocodiles in a given area had been shot, that would simply mean it had become open territory for other crocodiles to move into.
Professor Franklin has stated, 'Animals move up and down the coastline and can move 30 kilometres in a day. You can never guarantee that an area will be safe.'
2. A crocodile cull might encourage human complacency
It has further been claimed that the best guarantee of human safety is appropriate human behaviour. People need to behave cautiously near water where there might be crocodiles.
Professor Craig Franklin, a crocodile expert at the University of Queensland, has warned that if people that a crocodile cull meant that a particular area was now safe, they were likely to behave cautiously and this could cost them their lives. Professor Franklin has warned that the risks posed by such complacency are very real as no cull could ever guarantee there would be no crocodiles in a particular region.
Professor Franklin has stated, 'Culling these animals would only lead to more danger as it would lead people into a false sense of security.'
Another Queensland crocodile expert, Gordon Grigg has also noted that culling is futile. Mr Grigg has stated, 'You can never be sure you've got them all, and it risks giving people a false sense of security.'
David Leyden, head curator at Hartley's Creek Crocodile Farm, is similarly concerned about the impact of a false sense of security on human behaviour. Mr Leyden notes that whether a crocodile has been shot of shifted it is only a matter of time before it is replaced.
Mr Leyden has claimed, 'Crocodiles are very mobile animals, and can migrate up and down the coast. Humans always need to be careful in this area, for a croc could have recently moved into an area.'
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service scientist, Dr Mark Read, has said that while any crocodile-related fatality was deeply regretted, the incidence of saltwater crocodiles attacking people was very low, and that risks could be reduced by people adopting crocodile-safe behaviour. He said educating people about being 'croc safe' in crocodile country was the key to managing crocodile risks - not culling.
Dr Read has claimed, 'Culling only lures people into unsafe and complacent behaviours, as it is impossible and undesirable to remove all crocodiles from the environment.'
3. Crocodile numbers are not increasing in an unsustainable manner
Zoologist and professional research fellow at the University of Queensland, Professor Craig Franklin, has disputed claims of uncontrolled crocodile population growth. Professor Franklin has stated, 'There's been little or no growth of populations.'
Professor Franklin claims that among those who assert that there is such crocodile population growth some are driven by politics to exaggerate the crocodile threat, while others want to exploit the animal.
Professor Franklin has stated that there is limited data, but a study of the river at the centre of the latest crocodile attack in which Mr Booker was killed shows a population decline.
Professor Franklin has noted, 'The Endeavour River was surveyed in 2000 and along 17 kilometres of river, there were 12 animals spotted. In 2007, 11 animals were spotted over 23 kilometres of river.'
The professor has stated that while in some areas in the Northern Territory there does appear to have been large growth in crocodile populations, this is not the case in Queensland. Professor Franklin has explained, 'The crocodile habitat in Queensland is a lot poorer than the Northern Territory and hence the populations just haven't recovered like they have in the Northern Territories.'
A wildlife administrator, National Parks far northern director, Mr Clive Cook, stated in 2006 that Queensland's crocodile population is still recovering more than 30 years after the end of commercial hunting.
Surveys on Cape York and in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the state's far north have estimated the crocodile population at about 30,000. Mr Cook has stated that of these more than 90 per cent are classed as sub-adult juveniles.
Mr Cook noted, 'As the animals grow and the larger adults displace the other ones, there is a tendency for the range to spread but it is restricted obviously.' Mr Cook claims that generalisations about the total extent of Australia's crocodile population cannot be made from particular sightings.
'The dynamics of the population are in a state of flux really,' he has claimed.
The Queensland Environment Minister, Andrew McNamara, has a similar view. Mr McNamara has stated, 'The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has recently done an assessment of crocodile numbers on the eastern side of the Cape and have found they have only slightly increased in a number of years. It has one crocodile every two kilometres - it's not particularly a high density area.'
4. Sensible human behaviour is the best means of reducing the risk crocodiles pose
It has been noted that as removal or shooting out of crocodiles from a given area would not stop relocated or other crocodile moving to that region, the only reasonable way of reducing human risk is to modify human behaviour. To that end, the Western Australian, Northern Territory and Queensland governments have introduced public education campaigns to prompt tourists and others to behave cautiously in areas where crocodiles are known to be.
In 2005, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) implemented recommendations from a risk assessment on crocodiles in the Fitzroy River.
QPWS Regional Director Keith Twyford said, 'I must stress that croc trapping does not equal croc-safe rivers.
QPWS research is showing these are very mobile animals and they return to areas they were taken from, or are replaced by other crocs if removed... Many of the risks identified ... are the result of people putting themselves in danger and not using 'Crocwise' behaviour.
The Crocwise public education campaign will be stepped up, encouraging the community to live safely with crocodiles. Warning signage should be installed at several locations within the Rockhampton, Fitzroy and Livingstone council areas as a priority.'
Mr Twyford further said 'The removal of problem crocodiles from the Fitzroy River does not equal a safe river that people can use without considering the presence of crocodiles.'
It has been claaimed that crocodiles are a part of life in the north, and that people who chose to camp or fish in crocodile-infested waters needed to be on guard.
Australia Zoo senior wildlife ranger, Barry Lyon, has claimed that people need to be educated to behave appropriately around crocodiles.
'Stay out of the water, camp well away from the water, go fishing in a good sturdy high sided boat,' Mr Lyon has advised..
Mr Lyon has also warned campers against throwing food scraps or fish carcasses into the river. He has advised, 'That attracts crocs, that's like fast food for them, and it puts people in a very dangerous situation.'
According to a range of environmental authorities the key to saving human lives in crocodile territory is to have tourists and others behave sensibly.
5. Crocodiles are important to the ecology of the areas where they live
It has been claimed that as the top predators, crocodiles have a vital part to play in the ecology of waterways and rivers in norther Australia. Without them, it has been suuggested, the popuations of other species lower down on the food chain would become out of balance.
Australia Zoo senior wildlife ranger, Barry Lyon, has said crocodiles, because of their place at the top of the food chain, were an essential part of river and lagoon eco systems in the north. He further noted that extensive hunting of the large reptiles following World War II had a massive impact on river systems in the area.
Mr Lyon has stated, 'The eco systems were so out of balance that catfish were hugely abundant, we'd go fishing and you might catch 20 cat fish for one barra. Since then the crocodiles have recovered and now you hardly ever catch a catfish - that's a good example of how they keep the whole system healthy.
Australia Zoo director, Mr Wes Manion, who was a friend of the late crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, has also claimed that crocodiles play an extremely important role in ecological systems.
'A lot of people who have that redneck attitude have no idea about how important crocodiles are for the rivers,' Mr Manion has stated..
Australia Zoo says because of their place at the top of the food chain, crocodiles are an essential part of river and lagoon ecosystems in the north.
A similar point has been made by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service scientist, Dr Mark Read, who has claimed, 'Crocodiles are an integral part of freshwater, estuarine and marine environments and removal of these animals from the ecosystem could affect other species, including commercially important species like barramundi and mudcrabs.'
6. Crocodiles are an important tourist attraction
Those opposed to culling crocodiles have claimed that Australia's native saltwater crocodile populations are an important attraction for tourists coming to Australia.
Queensland's Tourism Minister, Desley Boyle, has claimed saltwater crocodiles in urban areas are an attraction rather than a deterrent and can give cheap thrills to international tourists. Ms Boyle told the Queensland Parliament in Cairns that crocodiles in waters close to populated areas lured tourists and provided them with photo opportunities. Ms Boyle insisted tourists were fascinated with crocodiles and would frequent locations where they could experience them first-hand.
'The last time one [a crocodile] was spotted in waters fairly close to Cairns Esplanade, the tourists flocked there in some numbers with their cameras and absolutely enjoyed taking photographs,' Ms Doyle has said. 'The fascination with our wildlife, including our dangerous wildlife, is a drawcard to tourists in the tropics, far from it being a barrier or a means of dissuading them from coming.'
Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, has also claimed that crocodiles were a 'tourist drawcard'.
Similar claims have been made about the value of crocodiles as a tourist attraction in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. A tourist attraction at the Adelaide River crossing in the Northern Territory is the 'jumping crocodiles'; the resident Estuarine (saltwater) crocodiles are fed with meat, dangling from a line.
In October 2003 a German tourist was attacked and killed by a crocodile in Kakadu National Park. Initially there were fears that this tragedy might discourage tourists from coming to the Northern Territory. Subsequent studies have revealed that the opposite may actually be the case.
Northern Territory University academic, Dr Pascal Tremblay, monitored the international media coverage of the death and was shocked with what he discovered. Dr Tremblay has claimed that the images that were diffused overseas were actually positive from a tourism industry viewpoint.
In Germany, for instance, the sort of images that were portrayed were the escarpment and Kakadu National Park as a beautiful place, while rugged.
Dr Tremblay has stated, 'In terms of that market specifically, I think that, interestingly it has had a positive impact, because the Germans, or the sort of Germans that specifically we try to attract here, are looking for adventure in the outdoors and ruggedness.'