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NT Govt asked to allow croc hunting

AM - Saturday, 10 June , 2006 08:17:30
Reporter: Sarah Hawke

ELIZABETH JACKSON: A new plan for crocodile safari hunting in the Northern Territory has re-emerged, eight months after the idea was initially quashed by the Federal Government.

Professional hunters are calling on the Northern Territory Government to amend laws that would allow domestic shooters to safari hunt 25 crocodiles every year.

The Federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, scrapped a similar plan for international hunters last year.

Commonwealth approval was needed in that case, so that the skins could be exported.

But as Sarah Hawke reports, the latest idea proposed by professional shooters only needs approval from the Northern Territory.

MAN: So that's what your leg will look like after a big crocodile has bitten you.

SARAH HAWKE: It's feeding time for crocodiles housed at one of Darwin's major parks.

CHILD: Oh, yeah, make him go that way.

SARAH HAWKE: Kids and adults are in awe of the size of these ancient reptiles, and the damage they could inflict.

These are the challenges that entice trophy hunters.

The proposal rejected by the Federal Environment Minister would have allowed for 25 out of 600 wild crocodiles culled annually to be used for safari hunting.

The target was international visitors, willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars.

While the plan had widespread backing in the Northern Territory, Ian Campbell rejected it, under a lot of pressure from this man.

STEVE IRWIN: Have a look at this little beauty, will ya? Crikey!

SARAH HAWKE: The Minister admitted crocodile enthusiast Steve Irwin influenced his decision last year, but says supporters were also consulted.

The plan, though, has not died.

The Northern Territory Professional Hunters Association is lobbying the NT Government to adopt it just for domestic shooters, therefore avoiding federal intervention.

President Kevin Glesson told ABC Darwin while the returns may not be as large as from overseas shooters, domestic hunters could pay up to $6,000.

KEVIN GLESSON: Most of our domestic market, our guys from southern states, they, in reality, know that the size of our crocodiles here, and they would love to come up here. They come up here annually to hunt the buffalo, the banteng, the wild boar, and they'd love to add a crocodile to there.

It's going to have a certain cost for them, so they want to take the skin home and probably the skull home and have it sit in pride of place in their house.

SARAH HAWKE: The Northern Territory Government says it will consider all options put forward.

But Chief Scientist with Wildlife Management International in Darwin, Charlie Manolis, argues the Territory should be pushing the original plan.

CHARLIE MANOLIS: In principle I think we should go for what we went for, and that was to get the Federal Government to agree to safari hunting in the management plan.

Because there's actually nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with what the Northern Territory was advocating.

So, on principle alone, we shouldn't really give in.

SARAH HAWKE: But environmentalists remain strongly opposed to any plan.

Nicola Beynon from Humane Society International says there are still serious animal welfare issues.

NICOLA BEYNON: There are crocodiles removed from the wild already for the meat and skin market, and HSI doesn't support that, but that's a different issue.

This is trophy hunting. This is killing crocodiles purely for the hell of it, for the enjoyment of it, and that's something that we, that the Federal Environment Minister wouldn't entertain, and the Northern Territory Government shouldn't entertain that idea either.

Often the tourists aren't skilled marksmen. They might be accompanied by skilled marksmen, but it's the person who shoots the bullet that counts.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Nicola Beynon from Humane Society International, ending that report from Sarah Hawke.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1660060.htm

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