Do YOU like Crocodiles? Seen them on tv/in the flesh? Should they be protected, culled or left alone?

Question

I've worked with crocs since '72 & was first taught by Bob Irwin, Dad of the legendary Steve. I've worked for 4 croc attractions and farms as Tour Guide, Head Wildlife & Croc Keeper, Marketing Manager & General Manager & have researched the behaviour of captive & wild crocs in FNQ for the past 35 years.

I've caught crocs in the wild & in captivity and have transported captive crocs from FNQ to the state's south for research and dislay at wildlife parks.

I reckon know a fair bit about these extraordinary animals but want to know a LOT more about them & about how people feel about them. I'm lucky in that I've already learned heaps from some of the blokes I've known or worked with like Bob Irwin, Keith Cook, Mick Tabone & others including the blokes at the Qld Parks & Wildlife Service Croc Unit in Cairns.

Tell me how you feel about crocs and you might get to meet the 18' 'Cassius' at Marineland on Green Island.

Thanks heaps
Brian Harris
FOOTPRINT CROCODILE RESEARCH

Answer 1

Do YOU like Crocodiles? Seen them on tv/in the flesh? Should they be protected, culled or left alone?

Yes, Yes and yes, Protected but supervised.

Humans have encroached on too many wildlife species and destroyed habitat on all of them.

Periodically, I see the words "invasive species" in wildlife regulations and from time to time, the news header proclaiming some "vicious" attack by some wild animal.

Humans are the INVASIVE SPECIES.. We import, transfer, regulate and when these wild creatures do what comes naturally they become a hot news item for a while.

I live in South Texas now and hear about some Alligator that has moved into a nice stock tank and the property owner is scandalized, offended or feels violated in some way. THEY were here long before humans but it seems that we forget that we have taken THEIR habitat for our own use.

I acquired my first "pet" Alligator (Cayman) in 1958 while it was still legal to purchase them in pet shops in California.
I have had contact with wild Alligators and owned many Caymans and a few Alligators on several occasions.

I find them fascinating and their adaptability to an adverse environment incredible.

Some people will never understand (or even care to) the experience of pulling to the side of the road in East Texas just before dark and watching a wild Alligator swimming in a bar ditch hunting for dinner.

(bar ditch: where soil has been removed to raise the road bed above periodical flooding by heavy rains and often full of water).

Answer 2

G'day Brian,
I think crocs are amazing! They fascinate me. The fact that they are so resilient, and have evolved so little over time is amazing! Mother nature must have got that one right the first time! I've never seen one in the wild (I haven't got up your way yet). But have seen heaps in captivity. One in particular at Ballarat Wildlife Park comes to mind! What an absolute monster! I didn't fully appreciate how large they could be until I saw him. I would have one myself if I could afford an appropriate set up. I would love to participate in a croc transport one day! It makes me furious when an idiot tourist gets attacked and the croc pays with his life. After all, the croc's just doing what crocs do! They are misunderstood for sure! I've done a bit of work trying to educate the public about the importance of Flying Foxes to our ecosystems. It's an uphill battle when people have negative preconceived notions about an animal. Good On Ya for working with the crocs!

Answer 3

i saved a few crocs from farmers ,when i was working for an ecology department in Mexico
i still got 5 baby crocs in a biospace that i build ,together wih turtles iguanas and fish .
i feed my baby crocs raw bits of fish ,the biggest is only a meter ,
and i like all animals not just crocodiles

Answer 4

Well, to have such an accomplished person ask a question here is a shock to me. But welcome!

How do I feel about crocs? Well, let me give you a brief background on myself. I originally entered college hoping to do mammalian conservation. I am now finishing my degree and looking to go to grad school and study the ecology of hydrothermal vent communities. So I have had a long and winding journey from where I started, but I have learned a lot along the way.

The organisms that I want to study are about as appealing to people as crocodiles are, so I can see why you are interested in public opinion. I can't seem to get many people to care about vestimentiferan worms.

But on to crocodiles. Culled? Why would we cull crocs? They have survived what geological evidence shows us many organisms could not. To cull them would be absurd. To survive as long as they have should be an inspiration to us as scientists and as organisms that share their space. They've been able to co-exist with many other animals throughout that time. The least we can do is extend them the courtesy of respecting their amazing biology/ecology/history.

Should we protect them? I feel that more programs need to be instituted in areas where crocodilian species clash with humans. These are the areas where they are getting into trouble. Everyone would love to protect them as long as they "aren't in my backyard". Effective population controls, such as relocation and preventing human encroachment on established crocodilian territory, should be in place in areas where these creatures are demonized.

As for how I personally feel about crocs - I feel that they are marvels of evolution. Stunning and stealthy. yet beautiful and majestic. Caring during mating but deadly when pushed to the edge. How can anyone not marvel at these creatures? There are many people who don't care for the "not so cute and furry" creatures of the planet. And to me that's ok. The animals that people most care about are the ones that have ended up in private custody and have been damaged by human interaction. But the very least we can do as zoologists/biologists is to make everybody understand all animals' critical importance and perhaps get people to see the majesty and beauty we see when we look at our chosen "oddities" of love!

Answer 5

Hey there, wanted to answer this this morning, but had to get to work.

I'm a little more knowledgable with the American alligator than any crocs, started working with them at the tender age of 11, when my father got a job at a local gator farm. From there we started doing educational programs on our native Florida reptiles for schools, scouts, libraries, anyone who will have us. In '89 or '90, my father met a man who at the time was our local nuisance alligator trapper, and was invited to help out if he wanted. Well, Rob moved on, and the state offered my father the nuisance alligator contract. (Of course the baby girl had to tag along on this as well.) Seeing how alligators have been my family's livelyhood for so long, I've got some slightly odd views on all crocodilians, and I'm one of the few people I know who can honestly say that they've spent most of their lives working with alligators.

I believe everyone who lives where they have the potential of contact between themselves and any crocodilian has the responsibility to learn all they can about these magnificent animals, not only for their own protection, but so we have the knowledge and respect for them to set aside some room for them as population in their habitat grows, and so that we can -try- to live in peace with them. No matter how hard we try, though, negative interactions will occur, and measures have to be taken to protect ourselves from these animals.

Biologists in Florida have found that relocation of alligators is a nice idea, but is ineffective. Putting them on farms and in zoos is out of the question, everyone has as many as they need, occasionally some farms do ask for new breeding stock, but this is rare, and usually these alligators tend to escape or starve themselves to death.

There is no way to please everyone, you have the people who can't stand to see anything die, so when the alligator in the lake in their back yard manages to kill a duck, they put the boat in, fish the duck out and take it away from the alligator, and they call in that this alligator is killing ducks left and right. Well, why do you think it's doing that? (One of these people had the NERVE to tell me that they can't stand to see anything die, and then when I picked up the remains of a small banded water snake {completely harmless, btw} she says, oh, I killed that the other day, I hate snakes.) These people call the state to complain about their alligator and then, when it's explained what will happen, they about short-circuit, the alligator's over the size that the state will allow to be relocated, yet they can't bear the thought of ANYTHING dying.

You've got the people who think that alligators are useless and they should all be killed off. These people, if there is a nest that has hatched out and the little grunts are in the water behind their house, want someone to come get them and take a hammer to their heads. Every last one. No exceptions.

Then there's people like us. We love alligators. They're amazing! One woman had video of an alligator that was in the retention pond behind her house, the man at one end of the pond would feed the catfish every day. This alligator would come up about once a week, grab a fish, go back over where the anhingas and other water birds would be sunning their wings, get the catfish on top of his beak, and submerge, where only the fish was visible. The birds would come to try and get the fish, the alligator would flip the fish, grab a bird, eat the bird, then root around for it's fish and eat it. The neighbors had absolute fits, that G.D. alligator's eating the birds again! This has to stop! No appreciation for the significance of what they had in their backyards.... maybe not true tool use, but close, I'd say.

An alligator can be tagged and moved up to 150 miles away from where they came from. It may take them a month or more, but they will make it back to where they came from, and be harder to catch the next time.

Ahh, I could go on and on and on. Most of my croc experience has been on the captive level, we have permits to possess alligators and crocodiles for educational purposes, and have kept American crocs, and a Mexican Morelet's croc, but they seem to know they're an animal to look out for from a small size, while our alligators haven't caused trouble until they hit 5 1/2 feet or so (alligator puberty), crocs start getting mean at just a couple feet, at least in our experience.

They're powerful, beautiful, and suprisingly (to some people) intelligent creatures, and have just as much right to be here as all the cute warm fuzzy animals that everyone wants to protect. It's just that those 80 or so teeth, and millions of years of evolution into keystone apex predators has given them a bit of a complex, and every reason for all lesser creatures to be wary of them. (and yes, we are lesser creatures.)

Edited to add.....

Evolution and crocodilians....

Crocodilians have been around since before dinosaurs... some species were large enough to eat just about any dinosaur they wanted. Did a meteor or volcanic eruption or comet impact kill off the dinosaurs? My theory is no. Crocodilians ate them all. Then there was such a long stretch with nothing huge to eat that they had to evolve into smaller sizes to make use of available foods. (which perfectly explains why there has been little physical change in crocodilians other than size since they first appeared.)