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CULLING crocodiles or hunting them safari-style is being considered by the Northern Territory Government after an 11-year-old girl was savagely killed in a flooded creek.

Briony Anne Goodsell's remains were found by a search squad in Black Jungle Swamp on Monday.

The local girl was dragged underwater in the flooded creek at Lambells Lagoon, in rural Darwin, while swimming with friends on Sunday afternoon.

Her death has prompted renewed calls for the NT Government to implement tighter controls of the crocodile population, recently estimated to be the highest in Australia at more than 80,000.

A plan for limited trophy hunting was rejected by the Commonwealth for the first time in 2005.

The NT Government had hoped to allow fee-paying hunters to shoot 25 of the 600 crocodiles already culled from the wild each year, generating income for impoverished Aboriginal land owners.

"We remain in favour of it,'' a spokeswoman for NT Environment Minister Alison Anderson said today.

"It's an issue we will continue to pursue.''

The NT Government is currently considering the issue as part of a revised croc management plan, to be completed in a few weeks before going to the Federal Government for approval.

Meanwhile, the NT Government has also committed to having "a very close look'' at the possibility of culling under the new plan.

"We'll definitely be looking at it in the next few weeks,'' said department head Jim Grant.

NT crocodile researcher Adam Britton conceded crocodiles were moving off floodplains into freshwater areas.

"They're moving closer and closer to Darwin, into places where perhaps people don't expect to find them,'' he said.

"This trend has been noted and we know that this has been happening but this information really hasn't been getting out to the community.''

But rather than a widespread culling program, Dr Britton has called for a community awareness campaign.

His calls were backed by federal Labor MP Damian Hale, who today suggested a considered decision based on science.

"At times like these our first response is to call for a croc cull - we really have an obligation to examine the science to find the most effective means of managing crocodiles,'' he said.

The Country Liberals' Kezia Purick said there needed to be more than just an education campaign.

"There needed to be a strategic management approach,'' she said.

"Crocodiles don't respect us, they just see us as food.''

Briony's sister, aged seven, and two friends, aged 10 and 12, were swimming in the swamp when she was dragged under the water.

The horrified youngsters watched her briefly resurface with a distressed look on her face before disappearing.

In a message sent to her home town newspaper in Ipswich, Queensland, Briony's grandmother urged people to petition the Government for a cull.

"These eating machines have made anywhere where there is water a danger,'' said Lynda Bennett.

"I want anybody and everybody to help me.''

Rangers on Tuesday called off a search for the killer croc, which they believe has moved from the creek to surrounding floodplains.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25211619-5005961,00.html

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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