Australia calls on to allow crocodile safari hunting
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Australia's state Northern Territory government on Friday said it will lobby the federal government to reconsider its objections to crocodile safari hunting in the state.
A 14-year-old boy was playing with his brothers in a creek at Milingimbi Island, about 400 km east of Darwin, while the crocodile bit him on Sunday morning. Authorities have launched extensive land and seas searches but failed to find the boy.
Since becoming a protected species, there is now one dangerous saltwater crocodile to every two people in the Northern Territory.
According to Northern Territory Environment Minister Karl Hampton, he has invited federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to visit Northern Territory.
"Talk to a lot of the Indigenous groups, go and visit, see first hand what opportunities there are in terms of economic development, creating Indigenous jobs," Hampton told ABC News on Friday.
"So I'm heartened with the response I've got to date from Tony and we'll continue to talk and continue to push for that safari hunting opportunity for the Territory."
Also, Hampton acknowledged more can be done to educate children in remote communities about the dangers of saltwater crocodiles.
He expressed deep sorrow about what happened to the 14-year-old boy, and said the state government needs to continue with the education campaign making sure that DVDs, posters and the teachers are talking to the kids in the school about being "crocodile-wise" .
In 2009, an 11-year-old Briony Goodsell was also killed by a three-meter crocodile while swimming with friends in Black Jungle Swamp on the outskirts of rural Darwin, Northern Territory.
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