A 14-foot crocodile in northern Australia was shot dead by rangers after it fatally attacked a 12-year-old girl who was swimming with her family in Mango Creek near Palumpa, an Outback Indigenous community in the Northern Territory. The attack, which occurred last week, marked the first fatal crocodile attack in the Northern Territory since 2018.
The crocodile was shot after rangers received permission from traditional landowners, who consider saltwater crocodiles a totem. Police confirmed that the animal shot was the one responsible for the girl’s death.
The tragic incident has reignited the debate on whether more should be done to control the crocodile population in the Northern Territory, where the protected species has increasingly encroached on human populations. The Northern Territory government recently approved a 10-year plan to contain crocodile numbers, increasing the rate of culling near human habitat from 300 to 1,200 a year.
Crocodile scientist Grahame Webb explained that a crocodile of that size must be male and at least 30 years old, with the ability to grow throughout its life and live up to 70 years. The Northern Territory, with a land area comparable to France and Spain combined but only 250,000 people, is estimated to have a crocodile population of 100,000. The crocodile population was as low as 3,000 before hunting them was banned in 1971.
Despite the recent tragedy, Webb noted that crocs in the territory have largely stabilized their own population in recent years by preying on each other for food or territory. “They eat each other. The crocs have been controlling their own population. It’s not really people that have been controlling them,” Webb said.
The girl’s death has had a significant impact on her family and the local community, with police continuing to provide support to those affected by the tragic incident.
