Crocodile coservation.

[modeller]

crocodiles and big white sharks kill several thousand people every year but consevationists
still want them protected as endangered species.
Should they be a protected species or would it be better if they were allowed to die out ?

[jake-the-peg]

I think you're wrong about Great Whites.

OK the figures here are for the US but typically it's a few every 10 years

http://www.jawshark.c...s_by_country_usa.html

[redman41]

Man is forever tampering with Nature and this can cause problems by imbalancing what Nature can do itself. I'm all for culling Alligators and Crocs especially when they cause problems in Northern Australia and Florida for example. Attacks occur because Man has encroached onto their territory by building homes where these creatures breed and thrive.
If you swim in the sea where saltwater Crocodiles and Great White Sharks exist, then it is no use blaming these creatures when attacks occur.

[Fitzer]

Hmmm, best estimates of human fatalaties caused by sharks is less than 10 per year according to the University of Florida who keep such records. The best information I could find for crocs (The Crocodile Specialist Group) was that there may be 500 deaths per year from attacks.
Not sure where your 'thousands' come from but since their main enemy seems to be man, either by hunting, pollution or environmental destruction, I hardly feel that they could be said to be 'allowed' to die out, rather that they were being killed off.

[carmalee]

the point here is that everything in nature is required to keep the balance - I grant we've encroached on certain habitats therefore certain measures are required to saveguard humans but culling in huge numbers is not the answer - man should stop being so arrogant by presuming 'he' knows best - nature and the environment survived perfectly well until we started to interfere.I have heard it stated that conservation is a very sad word - brought into use because we haven't controlled our species numbers. Don't shoot the messenger, just another point of few to think on.

[B00]

Crocs- they'd all make fantastic shoes and handbags, lets do away with the lot, 'orrible things.

[redman41]

You would have looked good in Blackpool BOO in Crocodile shoes and Handbag !

[B00]

I'm a classy bird Red ;-)

[China Doll]

Given my opinion on most people I've spoken to do, I'd conserve the crocodiles and sharks and endanger said people. Seems a fair exchange to me.

[jno]

shoes for B00

http://fun-pics.com/shoes,crocodile,teeth.jpg

[wildwood]

A lot more crocodiles/alligators and GWsharks get killed by people than the other way around.

This is ironic as these animals do not go out of their environment to kill people, but people DO invade their environment to kill them because of their misguided superiority complex in the world of Nature.

I am with China Doll on this one.

[woofgang]

humans kill many more humans (and other animals) than crocs or sharks, maybe we should die out?

[puzzfuzz]

I am a shark enthusiast and have dived for years, and have never had any problem with them. Man causes the problems such examples as cage diving in South Africa where they are teaching sharks to associate humans with food. It is just not right.

In my view they SHOULD be a protected species they are beautiful powerful, graceful animals. The great white has an internal heating system so they don't need warm water they have been spotted in cooler climes.

You are safe as a diver as they are scared of the diving regulator with all the noise it makes etc. I would not advise snorkelling in Australia for example but as a diver they don't bother you at all. On the surface of the water i would fear them but not when i am diving.

There are only a handful of species of shark that we should be 'wary' of, the great white of course, the Tiger and the Bull shark. As long as you respect them and don't put yourself in danger then you don't have a problem. All the other species such as black and white reef sharks etc etc are just inquisitive and nosey. I have seen and dived with the great thresher shark which is a rare one so i am one of the priviledged few.

It is films like jaws which put the fear of God into the people, ignorance of not knowing anything about sharks makes people fear them. You ask any diver and they will tell you a different story. No one fears them on a dive.

[puzzfuzz]

by the way sharks kill less people than dogs!! maybe a couple of people a year accidentally mistaking them for seals due to the similarilties of the wet suit to a seal.

[Mosaic]

Do they kill as many people as dogs do? Just a thought.

[puzzfuzz]

not at all only a couple of people a year if that. Dogs kill and injure hundreds every year I should imagine.