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FROM TODAY'S PAPER - ARTICLE

Gulpilil urges rogue croc trophy hunt.

ACTOR David Gulpilil reckons he can make a crocodile appear by singing it. A bloke who calls himself Crocodile Mick Pitman reckons he can make one disappear by skinning it.

About four years ago, Pitman came to Darwin after years living in hideouts in the north Queensland bush, keeping up a front as a barramundi fishermen. He says he was, in reality, an illegal croc hunter who was skinning and mounting hides and selling them on the black market.

Gulpilil, who comes from the Ramingining area in Arnhem Land and identifies with the crocodile, which is a totem from his mother's side, was looking for a way for Aborigines to take ownership of one of his people's great cultural assets.

Pitman and Gulpilil will on Monday present Environment Minister Peter Garrett with a proposal to relax Australian laws that reflect the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), so big-game hunters can travel to the Northern Territory, shoot large problem animals and take the trophies home.

Gulpilil had rung Pitman accusing him of owing money. He'd rung the wrong bloke. Once they sorted that out, they got talking about hunting crocodiles.

"They're not looking after that animal properly," says Gulpilil, who as a younger man killed crocodiles with a spear. "People are getting bitten and we don't like seeing that meat left to rot (when problem animals are shot). We want to do it the proper way.

"The owner of the crocodile dreaming is my mother's tribe. To me, it's very important. And we want the Government to understand that this corporation has to go forward. No one's ever done this before. We're organising for a future."

Mr Garrett's office said it would give the big-game hunting proposal "thorough consideration" once it was received.

This would require the minister to try to balance the views of environmentalists and animal welfare activists with those of Aborigines, who despite popular perception rarely sing from the same song sheet.

While many far-north Aborigines have strong totemic links to the crocodile, meaning they must act in its favour, the relationship collapses when their people or interests are threatened.

It is understood Aborigines shot eight crocs when an eight-year-old child was taken on the Blythe River, east of Maningrida, in 2006.

The Northern Territory Government already issues up to 600 permits a year to capture or destroy crocodiles, including those that are attacking livestock or threatening humans. In practical terms, the issue is not about killing the animals.

It remains unlawful to export wild skins and skulls, and safari hunters, who like mementos of their exploits, won't pay to hunt unless they're permitted to take their trophies home.

Crocodiles have virtually been wiped out across Asia, and the CITES treaty is designed to stop the trade in skins and skulls in countries with depleted populations. In the Northern Territory, where crocodiles are protected, they are in abundance.

The Gupulul Marayuwu Aboriginal Corporation, of which Gulpilil's son, Jida, is a director, would organise for big-game hunters to shoot problem animals, after which Aboriginal workers would clean, tan and mount the trophies for export.

Jida Gulpilil thinks they'd pay between $10,000-$50,000 for the total service.

Hunters already fly to the Territory to shoot buffalo and banteng, a species of wild cattle, and are permitted to export trophies, but there's an emotional snag when it comes to crocodiles.

For several years, Aborigines have had support from the NT Government and the crocodile-management community for limited safari hunting as a way to encourage small business.

In considering the issue, the previous federal environment minister, Ian Campbell, sought advice from croc hunter Steve Irwin, who was against the killing of any wild animal and persuaded Mr Campbell that crocodiles could not be killed humanely. But the issue has never gone away.

The Gupulul corporation draws the line at bringing in hunters to shoot man-eaters, with Pitman saying that "to be involved in a devastating situation like that is not up my alley". And no government would ever permit such a thrill-kill anyway.

Crocodiles that attack livestock or harass weekend fishermen are a different matter. Top End station owners routinely tell of disappearing stock, or suffering horses and cattle with their faces half ripped off.

The corporation thinks Aborigines could profit by letting big-game hunters do that job.

"This is a unique animal to this land," says Jida Gulpilil, who tells a story about his father singing a crocodile up out of an Arnhem Land river so it could be shot. David Gulpilil, listening intently, moves close and studies my eyes to make sure I believe the story.

"It's a very significant and valuable asset to us as Aboriginal people," continues Jida. "People practise different ceremonies and have sacred songs about them.

"It has high cultural significance to us.

"The industry deserves our respect - and so does the crocodile. We're not going out there culling. We want to do it properly, with the other agencies out there. But it should be controlled by people who know this animal in a cultural and spiritual way."

They say they would ensure that meat from killed crocodiles would be distributed to the local Aboriginal land owners, who would also be paid a fee for the animal.

Similarly, station owners would be paid for letting hunters in.

"It's the apex predator and it's hard to hunt," says Pitman. "This is much different to hunting African crocodiles, where they all live together like bees.

"We'll be hunting one animal, which has its own territory, and you'll be pitting your wits against it."

He says hunters would be screened to make sure they could shoot straight, and Aboriginal guides would serve as back-up.

"But with the firearms they've got now, if you hit one between the front legs and the back of the head, he's finished," says Pitman.

Graeme Webb is one of Australia's most respected voices in crocodile management. He runs Darwin's Crocodylus Park and chairs the crocodile group with the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

"The Government has decided that the safari hunting of crocodiles would be a bad look - they've just taken a philosophical stand," says Mr Webb. "But exporting a buffalo trophy does not requires a CITES permit.

"Crocodiles are a renewable, regenerating resource which could be used to make money. It doesn't matter whether Pitman and Gulpilil are the people involved or not.

"Everyone knows economic development out bush is one of the great issues of this time. And it's no secret that as we discuss this, there are hunters out there taking crocodiles illegally."

Mr Webb does not believe safari hunting need be limited to problem animals. "They don't have to be pests," he says. "In Louisiana, they harvest 40,000 alligators a year and the alligator as a consequence has a higher value.

"We can't sustain that amount, but the problem we're dealing with is the image of the person who pulls the trigger. If a crocodile takes a young child, you don't bring in a hunter. You don't mix the two problems.

"The hunting of safari animals needs to be very stringently controlled. The reporting needs to be at a high level. It could be a very successful program. Some of these larger males in some rivers are beating up and killing each other.

"The issue is not really about safari hunting: it's about professional management of wildlife."

Edited by 500Nitro (04/04/09 08:43 AM)