Crocodile hunting may be a tourist allure in Australia

BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) - Crocodile hunting could

become a new tourist attraction and job creator in

Australia's far north if a shire council has its way.

Mayor Graham Elmes said Cook Shire, north of popular

tourist hub Cairns, was overpopulated with the reptiles

and a Crocodile Council had been set up to deal with the

problem.

“Crocodiles are in waterholes where they’ve never been

seen before,” he said, adding that they were being

pushed from their regular habitat by development and

becoming an increasing threat to humans.

He described them as “just another commodity” that

could be turned into an economic benefit for the shire

where the indigenous unemployment rate was high.

The Crocodile Committee hoped to formulate plans where

tourists would trap or shoot the reptiles.

“But it wouldn’t be open slaugther,” Elmes said.

Surveys would be taken and culling permits issued only

where there was evidence the crocodile population had

exploded.

The proposal was quickly condemned by the president of

the Far North Environmental Council Leannie Mackie who

described it as “outrageous”.