The Northern Territory Government is furious that its plan to allow crocodile safari hunting has been shot down by Canberra.
The idea was to let fee-paying safari hunters take up to 50 large saltwater crocodiles every year. However, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt rejected a one-year trial of the scheme, labelling it ‘inappropriate’ and saying “there was a risk of cruel and inhumane treatment’.
The 50 crocodiles a year taken by safari hunters would have been part of the existing crocodile management plan, which allows for up to 500 crocodiles to be harvested from the wild each year.
NT Minister Willem Westra van Holthe lashed out at the Federal Government’s decision, saying he didn’t think Greg Hunt had any idea how to manage crocodiles in an area he had little idea about.
“Territorians best know how to manage the crocodiles up here in the Northern Territory,” he said. “I’m sure if he had crocodiles in his swimming pool or his backyard, he’d want them managed.”
Mr Westra van Holthe insisted the safari hunts would have been conducted in a humane way and would have provided jobs for remote Indigenous communities.
A leading crocodile scientist also said he was disappointed with Mr Hunt’s decision.
Professor Grahame Webb, who runs Crocodylus Park in Darwin, said the Federal Government was scared of animal rights activists.
“They’re frightened of the animal rights and animal welfare lobbies down in Canberra,” he said. “I don’t think they care too much about landowners and crocodiles up here.”
Comment below
Catch a few and send them down to live in Lake Burley-Griffin. Then the politicians might think again.