Croc attack renews call for hunting of reptiles

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Croc attack renews call for hunting of reptiles
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi...&date=20041014
By ROD McGUIRK
The Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia — A savage crocodile attack on campers in northern Australia has sparked renewed calls for the partial lifting of a three-decade hunting ban aimed at saving the animals from extinction.

Crocodile numbers have exploded across Australia's tropical north since federal law protected them in 1971 from the commercial shooters who almost blasted them to extinction for their skins.

But as the number of crocs increases, so does the risk to humans — and so does the number of people calling for a cull.

The latest near-tragedy occurred on a remote beach in Queensland state when a 14-foot crocodile crawled into a tent where a husband, wife and their four-month-old son slept before dawn Monday.

The crocodile had dragged the husband, 34-year-old Andrew Kerr, from the tent before Kerr's 60-year-old mother-in-law, Alicia Sorohan, was awakened by his screams and tackled the 772-pound reptile.

The crocodile then clamped Sorohan in its jaws before another camper shot it dead. Both Kerr and Sorohan were recovering from serious injuries in the hospital at the Great Barrier Reef tourist town of Cairns.

The leader of the Queensland state opposition, Lawrence Springbok, responded by asking the government to authorize a croc cull.

"They're increasingly encroaching on populated areas," Springbok told reporters.

The government rejected a cull, accusing Springbok of a knee-jerk reaction.

Among those siding with the crocodiles is Lena Pangquee, a 69-year-old Aboriginal woman who knows what it's like to be at the wrong end of one of the mammoth reptiles.

Pangquee was grabbed around the chest and stomach by a 14-foot saltwater crocodile in 1990 as she slept on the bank of the Daly River in the Northern Territory, west of Queensland.

Her 42-year-old son, Peter, who also was sleeping in the tent, attacked the crocodile with his bare hands, gouging its eyes. It released Pangquee and retreated to the river, but not before breaking 10 of her ribs and causing internal damage, including a punctured liver.

"We didn't want those animals taken or killed because it's their territory, not our territory," Lena Pangquee told The Associated Press.

Crocodiles roam through Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory, with Northern Territory having the densest populations.

Researchers estimate numbers there have exploded from 5,000 when the shooting ended to 70,000 today.

Despite the soaring numbers, fatal attacks are rare. The last one was two years ago when a German tourist was killed in a water hole at Kakadu National Park by a 15-foot, 1,100-pound saltwater crocodile.

The Northern Territory government wants to make money for impoverished Aboriginal communities by allowing trophy hunters to pay to shoot crocodiles on their land.

Animal-welfare organizations have branded the concept cruel and the federal government has yet to announce whether it will sanction the hunts.