Monster crocodiles face a shoe-leather future

By GREG ANSLEY Australia correspondent

CANBERRA - The day of reckoning is finally approaching for northern Australia's fearsome saltwater crocodiles, after a 32-year free meal ticket that has seen their numbers explode.

The huge crocs, which can grow to 7m and live as long as 130 years, have become an increasing menace in the Northern Territory, where they take the occasional human, hundreds of cattle and pet dogs, and range from Outback billabongs to suburban backyards.

Now the Northern Territory Government is proposing a big culling programme that would include croc-hunting safaris in a bid to control the population of a species that three decades ago was facing extinction.

Where rivers were once barren of the aggressive giants, a spotlight at night will now reflect a frightening number of reptilian eyes.

Ponds, lakes and rivers are no-go areas, and Twin Falls near Darwin, one of the Territory's most popular tourist sites, has been closed for eight months because of an invasion of saltwater crocs.

The saltwater species is far more aggressive than the freshwater crocodiles that normally roam the park.

A year ago, a 23-year-old German tourist was killed by a 5m crocodile when she took a midnight swim in a Kakadu billabong.

Crocodiles have been protected since 1971, after a boom in hunting reduced their population in the Territory from an estimated 85,000 to about 5000, and fears grew for their survival.

Their rebound was slow to start - a "saltie" takes about 15 years to mature and nests were sparse, even in remote areas - but within a decade large crocodiles were becoming both common and a danger.

Numbers and public safety were controlled through programmes that caught and removed crocs when they appeared in high-risk areas, and through crocodile farms.

The six strictly controlled commercial farms in the Territory produce leather and meat, and add to the big tourism industry centred on crocodiles.

But an estimated 70,000 now roam the Top End's wetlands, killing not only native wildlife but also dogs, cattle and horses through the lethal grip of their jaws and the death roll that follows.

This week the Territory Government released a new draft management plan recommending the culling of 1100 saltwater and 1200 freshwater crocodiles a year, mainly on Aboriginal and pastoral lands.

A key element will be licences to allow big-game hunters to go after salties for the first time since 1971, offering not only population management but what could be a serious cash flow for safari operators and property owners.

The programme would also include continued harvesting of eggs and young animals for crocodile farms.

So far there are no signs the return to croc hunting will spread across borders into Western Australia and Queensland, where numbers have not yet reached similar levels.