Queensland off-limits for safari croc hunters The Queensland Government has decided not to allow safari crocodile hunting.
There had been calls for the Sunshine State to a adopt a similar scheme to the one being trialled in the Northern Territory whereby hunters pay about $15,000 to kill a single big bull crocodile and then about $20,000 for taxidermy.
In the Northern Territory, a maximum of 50 crocodiles greater than 3.5m in length will be shot. Hunters argue that by placing a high value on crocodiles, shooting will help in their conservation.
However, crocodile campaigner Bob Irwin told the Brisbane Courier-Mail that shooting 50 alpha males would probably make rivers more dangerous rather than safer for humans. “If the shooters knew anything about how nature works, they’d know the really big boys keep everything in check,” he told the newspaper. “You shoot out the big males and the teenagers will start running around testing their skills. If you get young ones running riot, it’s going to introduce a little more risk to everything as far as humans are concerned.”
Mr Irwin said he would fight trophy croc shooting as much as he could. He said shooting native wildlife did not conserve anything and it would damage Australia’s clean and green tourism image.
