Crocs Back, Thriving In North Australia Menaced Community Wants Reintroduction Of Hunting

Look twice before sticking your toe in the water in northern Australia.

After being nearly wiped out by hunters 25 years ago, crocodiles are thriving in Australia’s tropical north - and posing a menace to lives and livestock.

In the tiny, remote community of Peppimentari, crocodiles have chased people and pets and brazenly marauded around popular fishing and tourist areas - prompting calls Tuesday for protection laws to be loosened and hunting reintroduced.

In the latest attack, a crocodile chomped on 10-year-old Fernando Jimarin’s right leg and back Dec. 18 while he swam in the Moyle River. The animal started a “death roll” to drown the boy, but he was pulled to safety by his 16-year-old cousin.

The attack was one of an unprecedented series of incidents involving large crocodiles, Aboriginal elder Harry Wilson said Tuesday.

In the past week, three horses have been found dead and their carcasses mauled on the banks of the nearby Daly River. Big crocodiles have also been tipping over garbage bins near a popular fishing and camping area, he said.

Smaller crocodiles have chased dogs and children in Daly River township, Wilson said, urging that crocodiles be hunted to reduce the threat.

Saltwater crocodiles, which can reach lengths of up to 21 feet, have lived in the warm seas and waterways of northern Australia and Papua New Guinea for thousands of years.

They were almost eradicated by hunters who sold the skins for leather, and won protection under a 1971 international agreement.

Since then, their numbers have recovered, and about 75,000 now live in Australia’s Northern Territory alone. Experts say the creature’s fierce sense of territoriality is forcing crocodiles into new areas.

In Darwin, 100 crocodiles per year are pulled from the city’s harbor and local beaches. A crocodile farming and tourist industry has grown in the territory and neighboring Queensland state.

Last year, the territorial government organized a hunt for the first time in more than 25 years - but was overruled by Aboriginal elders who said hunting would cause offense to the crocodile, an important totem animal.

Fatal crocodile attacks occur about once a year in Australia.