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Croc expert wants Govt to approve safari hunts
A Northern Territory crocodile expert says it is sad the Federal Government does not appear to understand the benefits safari hunts for saltwater crocodiles could bring.

The Northern Territory Government says Federal Government officials have already indicated they do not support a proposal to allow experienced safari operators to take clients into the wild to hunt these reptiles as trophies.

The idea is part of a Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service draft management plan for saltwater crocodiles released in November last year.

Professor Graham Webb from Charles Darwin University, who owns a reptile park in Darwin, has rejected Federal Government claims safari hunts would reduce the crocodile population's sustainability.

"There is no scientific or biological, there is not one qualified scientist or biologist in the world who would claim that this has anything other than a very positive benefit for the landowners, for incentives to conserve crocodiles," he said.

NT asks Commonwealth for croc hunting approval
The Northern Territory Government says it will lobby the Federal Government to support a proposal to hunt saltwater crocodiles for the first time since 1971.

The Territory Parks and Wildlife Service released a draft plan on the management of crocodiles in November last year, recommending hunting be trialled.

But to go ahead, the plan needs Federal Government approval.

The proposal involves experienced safari operators being allowed to hunt 25 saltwater crocodiles greater than four metres in length from the existing 600 adult animal removal quota.

The Territory's Parks and Wildlife Minister, Chris Burns, says he has already heard from Environment Department officials that the Federal Government is not in favour of the idea.

"I don't think they are very much in favour of it so we will have to do a bit of lobbying on this," he said.

"Obviously we have to talk them through the issue."

A spokeswoman for federal Environment Minister David Kemp says he is still examining the draft plan.

She says in the past, the Government has considered the safari hunting of saltwater crocodiles as a breach of the international convention on international trade in endangered species.

The spokeswoman says that convention is in place to keep crocodile numbers at a sustainable level.

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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."
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