There is a political tussle taking place in the federal region of the Northern Territory. An odd one, we might add. Because the starting point of the conflict is tied to the regulations for the conservation of crocodiles, an endangered species in the 1970s: they worked so well that there are now 100,000 in the wild. A number now considered too high for peaceful coexistence with residents and tourists, according to the local government, which would like at the same time to reduce their adult population and increase the permitted thresholds for collecting eggs in the wild. The proposal, ça va sans dire, does not please everyone.
Crocodile conservation
One has to go back a couple of decades, the local press reports, to understand how the region reached this impasse. Back in the 1970s, crocodiles in the Northern Territory were at risk of extinction, and therefore steps were taken to protect their survival. However, their number has become a threat to local communities. That is why the federal region adopted legislation (modeled after that of Louisiana, to be clear) that combines the conservation of the species and its habitat with economic interests, for example tying it to sourcing of hides (among other initiatives). An approach “that incentivizes residents to see the species not only as a threat”, the press says, “but also as a resource”.
It worked well
There, the paradox is that the project has worked all too well. Right now there are 130,000 crocodiles on farms and 100,000 in the wild. A lot for accidents have occurred with humans (last fatal in 2018, but 2023 saw the highest number since 2014), bringing the issue from biology to politics. The government has proposed reducing the adult population with targeted culling and calming birth rates, also via increasing egg collection quotas. Scientists and animal rights activists do not like the idea, and for more than one reason.
There are those who note, for example, that the news could instill an equivocal sense of security in tourists and local citizens, in locations where caution should always be advised and utilized. Others say that it would represent a harbinger of greater risks, to concentrate so many specimens in small areas or on farms. We’ll see who is right in the end.
Photo from Shutterstock
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