“They are dangerous and they might bite you.”
Rachel Pearce said that as the numbers of crocodiles increase, so do threats to humans. She said crocodiles get on land near housing – and sometimes find their way inside people’s homes.
“Lots of people here live on creeks. They have big, open houses. When the rivers rise, the crocs are able to go wherever they like, and quite often they’ll walk up into people’s backyards looking for their dogs or different things. So they are in very close proximity with people here.”
Crocodylus Park in Darwin is home to thousands of these extremely aggressive reptiles. It is one of Australia’s leading crocodile research centers. Charlie Manolis is the park’s chief scientist. He says some animals have been reported to use their sharp teeth to break an aluminum boat.
Television advertising warns of the dangers as northern Australians learn to live with crocodiles. Officials have set up a 50-kilometer crocodile-free exclusion area around heavily populated areas in Darwin and its busy waterfront. Traps catch hundreds of the reptiles each year. The animals are sold to crocodile farms that produce meat and objects like belts made from reptile skins.
In northern Australia, about one person dies from a crocodile attack every year. Most victims are not foreigner tourists who disobey warnings. Instead, they are Australians. Many people have grown up swimming in a local waterway or creek. But the spread of the crocodile has made those places too dangerous for humans to enter.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25