NORTHERN TERRITORY NOW TAMER

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27010, 9 April 1953, Page 11

NORTHERN TERRITORY NOW TAMER

BUFFALOES AND CROCODILES BECOMING 'SCARCE

SYDNEY, March 25. Australia’s wild and woolly Northern Territory will not be the same place in a few years, according to old residents. They say the days of the crocodile in the tropical creeks and rivers are numbered and that fewer buffaloes are wandering the plains. Some professional crocodile shooters say that they will quit after this season and take up a more remunerative job. They claim that the crocodiles are becoming scarcer . in all rivers within reasonable distance of Darwin. Only four shooters are going out this year, although the price of hides has risen from 5s to 6s an inch. Shooters say there are still plenty of crocodiles in outback rivers, but not in numbers large enough to cover the heavy expenses of hunting. The number of crocodiles has been steadily reduced since before the war, but at a faster rate since the war. Twelve shooting parties have been out in some years. As pessimistic as the crocodile shooters, are the buffalo shooters, who claim

that this industry, which normally provides £50,000 worth of hides annually, may fade out in three years. Veteran shooters say that although permits allow them to shoot only bulls more than three years old, some unscrupulous hunters are turning in cow and calf hides.