BBC
Saltwater crocodiles have been hunted to the brink of extinction in Australia’s Northern Territory. now they are thriving
As night falls in Darwin Harbour, Kelly Ewin, a government ranger whose job is to catch and remove crocodiles, balances precariously on a floating trap.
Heavy rain clouds are overhead from a recent storm. The boat’s engine has been shut off, so it’s mostly quiet now. That is, apart from the intermittent splashing from inside the trap.
“The chances of us hitting these guys are almost zero,” Ewin says as he tries to hook a rope around the agitated reptile’s jaws.
Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) is home to an estimated 100,000 wild saltwater crocodiles, more than anywhere else in the world.
The capital, Darwin, is a small coastal city surrounded by beaches and wetlands.
And as you’ll soon discover, here in the Northern Territory, wherever there’s water, there’s usually crocodiles.
Video: BBC’s Katie Watson boards Darwin Harbor, Australia with Crocodile Ranger
Saltwater crocodiles (known locally as salties) were hunted to the brink of extinction 50 years ago.
After World War II, the open trade in their hides boomed, and their numbers dwindled to about 3,000.
However, when hunting was banned in 1971, the population began to increase again. And the speed was fast.
Although they are still a protected species, they are no longer threatened.
The saltwater crocodile’s recovery has been dramatic, and Australia now faces another dilemma: managing saltwater crocodile numbers to protect people’s safety and national security.
“The worst thing that can happen is when people turn their backs on[crocodiles],” explains crocodile expert Professor Graham Webb.
“Then politicians always give the appropriate response that they’re going to ‘solve’ the crocodile problem.”
symbiosis with predators
The Northern Territory’s high temperatures and rich coastal environment create the perfect habitat for cold-blooded crocodiles, which need warmth to maintain a constant body temperature.
Salty people also live in northern Queensland, Western Australia, and parts of Southeast Asia.
Most species of crocodile are harmless, but saltwater crocodiles are territorial and aggressive.
Fatal accidents are rare in Australia, but they do happen.
Last year, a 12-year-old child was abducted, marking the Northern Territory’s first death from a crocodile since 2018.
This is the busiest time of the year for Ewin and his colleagues.
The breeding season has just begun, which means salties are on the move.
His team is out at sea several times a week checking 24 crocodile traps around the city of Darwin.
This area is popular not only for fishing but also for intrepid swimmers.
Crocodiles removed from the harbor are almost always killed, as they are likely to return to the harbor if released elsewhere.
“Our job is to keep people as safe as possible,” said Ewin, who has been doing her “dream job” for two years. Before that, he was a police officer.
“Of course, we won’t capture all the crocodiles, but the more crocodiles we take out of the harbor, the less risk there will be of encounters with crocodiles or humans.”
Kelly Ewin’s job is to trap and remove crocodiles from Darwin Harbour.
Another tool to keep the public safe is education.
The Northern Territory Government is introducing Be Crocwise, a program in schools to teach people how to behave responsibly around crocodile habitat.
The experiment was so successful that Florida and the Philippines are now borrowing it to better understand how the world’s most dangerous predators can coexist with humans with minimal contact.
“We live in crocodile country, so the question is how do we stay safe around waterways? How do we respond?” said Natasha, a ranger who runs the program in the Northern Territory. Hoffman says.
“If you’re on a boat when you’re fishing, you have to be aware that they’re out there. They’re ambush hunters, and they sit and watch and wait until they grab the food. Given the opportunity, that’s what they’re going to do.”
Mass culling is not currently under consideration in the Northern Territory as the species is protected.
Saltwater crocodiles are the world’s largest extant reptiles
But last year, the government approved a new 10-year crocodile management plan aimed at controlling numbers, increasing the annual quota for culling from 300 to 1,200 crocodiles.
This is part of Ewin’s team’s work to eliminate crocodiles that pose a direct threat to humans.
Each death reignites the debate about crocodiles living in close proximity to humans.
Days after the 12-year-old girl was abducted last year, the territory’s then-leader Eva Lawlor made it clear she would not allow reptiles to outnumber the Northern Territory’s human population.
Currently, there are 250,000 crocodiles in the wild, far exceeding the number of crocodiles in the wild.
This is a conversation that goes beyond NT.
Queensland has about a quarter of the crocodile population compared to the top region of the Northern Territory, but with far more tourists and more deaths, election debates have called for culling. Sometimes topics are brought up.
large company
The apex predator may be controversial, but it’s also a big draw for the Northern Territory, not just for tourists but also for fashion brands keen to buy its leather.
Visitors can head to the Adelaide River and watch the ‘crocodile jump’. This involves giving a salty animal a piece of meat on the end of a stick if it manages to jump out of the water for the audience.
Alex ‘Wookiee’ Williams, captain of the Spectacular Jumping Clock Cruise, joked, “They’re going to tell you to put on[a life jacket],” as he explained the rules on board.
“I don’t have to tell you…life jackets are of little use here.”
Williams has been obsessed with Crocs since he was a child, so there are plenty of opportunities to work with them.
“It’s been a boom in the last 10 years or so,” he says of the number of tourists visiting the area.
Getty Images
Wild crocodile show to be held in Northern Territory to attract tourists
Agriculture, introduced when hunting was banned, also drives the economy.
It is estimated that there are currently approximately 150,000 crocodiles in captivity in the Northern Territory.
Fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Hermès, whose Birkin 35 croc-shaped handbags sell for as much as A$800,000 ($500,000, £398,000), are all investing in the industry.
“You need social permission to use wild animals, so commercial incentives have been effectively put in place to make people more tolerant of crocodiles,” said one of the Northern Territory’s most prominent farmers. says Mick Burns, who works with luxury brands.
His office is located in downtown Darwin. A huge crocodile skin is spread out on the floor. There is another skin spanning at least 4 meters that is fixed to the wall of the conference room.
Mick Burns has worked in the Northern Territory’s crocodile farming industry for many years.
Burns is also involved in a ranch in remote Arnhem Land, about 500 km (310 miles) east of Darwin. There, he works with Aboriginal rangers to harvest and hatch crocodile eggs and sells their skins to the luxury goods industry.
Otto Brumania Campion, one of the traditional owners of the area who works with Mr Burns, said that to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities shared in the economic benefits of the industry, people like them needed to He says partnerships are even more important.
For tens of thousands of years, crocs have played an important role in indigenous cultures, shaping their sacred stories, lives, and livelihoods.
“All my fathers and elders used to harpoon crocodiles and get their skins and exchange them for tea, flour and sugar. (But) we didn’t have money at that time,” said the Barungara man.
“Now we want to see our own people handle reptiles.”
But not everyone takes part in farming as a practice, even if those involved say it helps preserve nature.
A concern among animal activists is the way the crocodiles are kept.
Despite being social animals, crocodiles are usually kept in separate enclosures to ensure their skin is flawless. A scrap between two territorial alligators will almost certainly cause damage to valuables.
Aboriginal Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation
Otto Brumania Campion is the Traditional Owner of the Top End Central Arnhem Land area.
Every resident of Darwin has a story about these terrifying creatures. Whether you want to see them hunted in greater numbers or more strictly conserved.
But I can’t imagine the threat they continue to pose.
“If you go[swimming]into the Adelaide River next to Darwin, there’s a 100 per cent chance you’ll be killed,” Professor Webb says matter-of-factly.
“The only question is whether it will take five minutes or ten. I don’t think it will last until I’m 15. It’ll tear me apart,” he added, pushing up the hem of his pants to reveal a large scar. Above his calf is evidence of a close encounter with an angry female while collecting eggs some 40 years ago.
He is unapologetic about what he calls the pragmatism of authorities who try to manage the numbers and make money off Crocs in the process. At least for the foreseeable future, this way of life will remain.
“We did something that very few people can do: capture very serious predators and manage them in a way that the public is prepared to (tolerate) them.” That’s it.
“You try to make people in Sydney or London or New York put up with a serious predator, but they’re not going to do that.”
