Ban on hunting crocodiles – hunting ban and road safety.
The shooting of salt water crocodiles in the northern territory was outlawed in 1971, bringing in a ban on hunting crocodiles. Around the same time (CIRCA 1970) road accidents were getting so much out of control that something had to be done, and we are talking nearly 4000 people killed each year in Australia.
Saltwater Crocodiles.
Someone got so concerned about saltwater crocodiles being killed off that legislation was passed to stop the shooting. Hence a ban on hunting crocodiles.
I put it, as a devil’s advocate, that the two decisions warrant some kind of comparison. Now I know that Shakespeare famously said “all comparisons are odorus” (play on the saying “comparisons are odious”) and I agree, but we sometimes make them despite the fact that they might be odious or somewhat smelly.
Back to the crocodiles vs road deaths.
A trend reversed – reduction in road deaths.
It worked.
In 1970 Australia wide there were 3798 road deaths. The statistics for 1995 show that the road death toll was cut by half and despite increases in the number of vehicles on the road, deaths per registered vehicle decreased from 7.96 road fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles to 1.58 deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles in 1997.
SOURCE:TAC.
Am I complaining about this? Well, no, despite the fact that I did not like being forced to live with seat belts, helmets, and speed cameras, I have to say that it was worth the price because it saved a few thousand people each year.
And the trend has continued. Currently (2017)we are down to 1224 deaths and thus we have “saved” 3000 people each year?
There is no question that this was a good decision.
The Crocodile decision – ban on hunting crocodiles.
Crocodiles, maybe a good decision at the time. But perhaps time for a real review as the on-going price for that decision is too high to be paid. The ban on hunting crocodiles has resulted in an explosion in the population, perhaps from 3000 crocodiles to 200,000 crocodiles. No-one really knows what effect the ban on hunting crocodiles has had on the crocodile population.
Why a review on the ban on hunting crocodiles?
We wanted to save human lives in the thousands. So it is fairly obvious that the numbers count. Like, too many people dying in road accidents so we must do something, but on the other hand there are not enough deaths from misadventure with crocodiles.
Can we examine this thinking in clear terms. I will put it this way.
“No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee. “
John Donne
The effect of an attack by a crocodile.
I think a lot of people are like me and think that even one death from a crocodile attack is too many.
Each death diminishes me, diminishes us all.
The other people say “oh, there are only 50 fatalities”, as if we need to have 3798 deaths before we do something.
And what about those who survive? Are they perfectly OK? Do they count in the statistics.
These people gloss over the number of attacks as if the horror, the wounding, and the maiming wasn’t worth the bother to record.
Let’s make no mistake. A crocodile attack, whether the victim lives on or dies, is also an abomination.
The horror of the attack will live on forever.
The damage done to the body, the spirit, and the mind.
It is not just a bite. There is the terrible infection caused by the filth of the crocodile mouth.
And each attack affects other people, even those only remotely involved.
A lone fisherman – it could have been me?
The mother watching her child approaching a completely innocent pool, worrying needlessly?
An innocent tourist? And aren’t they all innocent until dragged under by a giant head with terrible teeth?
Let’s talk about innocence for one second. How about this for innocence?
Briony Anne Goodsell (aged 11) died at Black Jungle, in the old swamp that I hunted in with my friend Harold Harmer, back in the sixties.
This area was considered a wilderness back in 1962 but now, according to the coroner’s report, “it is now a widely populated area on the outskirts of Darwin”.
Well the following tells us clearly that children are not safe in what is admitted to be “a widely populated area”.
Children are not safe! Get that!
The coroner also said: “All of the adults (police, rangers and neighbours) who saw the creek that afternoon said that they would not have gone into the water under those conditions due to the risk of drowning”.
Fair enough, but they didn’t even reckon on a crocodile.
The report goes on: “However, children do not always appreciate the dangers that adults see.”
Well I rest my case. Review the ban on hunting crocodiles?
Leighton