Why are there so many croc attacks these days?

Image Could Not Be FoundMainey . . .

what I don't understand is that crocs don't eat much maybe a quarter of a chook a day will keep them going.

So what are they doing with whole Cows and humans, I can understand the odd dog but the big things.

Are they just mean killers and kill for the fun.

"Why are there so many croc attacks these days?"

Pretty simple really,
Being a "protected species", they are no longer under threat from humans, therefore have no reason to be wary of humans, so any human can be viewed as a potential meal..

Also, as a consequence of their "protected" status, their numbers are increasing, as a consequence of which their range must expand. They are regularly being sighted in areas in which they had not previously been seen as recently as 10-20 years ago (warm ocean currents may also have something to do with this)..

Add to this to the fact that there now far more humans venturing into crocodile habitat, so the odds favouring an "unpleasant encounter" have increased exponentially in recent times...

Human stupidity is the answer to that question.

Sitting in the queue waiting for the Daintree Ferry, there's a croc warning sign there the size of a troopie.
A mother has her three small children paddling in the water, as the ferry arrives she calls the kids out of the water.
It's quite common to be on the ferry and see crocs in the water.

Even with a cull would you be prepared to swim in the creeks up here? I wouldn't, in fact standing close to the waters edge can be a risk.
The chap taken in the Endeavour was checking his crab pots which were set on the bank.

I think it is all a result of decining literacy standards. No doubt this stems from a failure to teach phonics.

The Aboriginal people in Northern Australia until recent times spent a considerable amount of their time in the water as it supplied a fair bit of their tucker. Well the women did, the men did secret men's business.

They knew where the crocs were and kept a keen eye out for them. It has been said that should a member of their group be attacked, the other members of the party would retaliate with digging sticks, or other weapons, and shift the crocs attention from being an attacker to being a victim, and they would release their prey.

Supposedly the crocs learned through experience (operant conditioning), to keep away from these strange delicious looking objects, as they cause considerable pain, if you went near them.

Shooting had the same effect, and when crocs were declared as being protected as their numbers were on the decline. Since that time they have been on the increase, and this coupled with the increase numbers of people going into that area, has seen a rise in successful croc attacks.

It is said that you never see the one that gets you, though from all accounts, and photographs posted in this thread prove this, that people are taking extreme risks.

We sometimes go into areas where these animals exist, but we don't take any chances. No swimming, draw water with a bucket on a rope, don't fish at the same place, and if we catch any, we get right back from the waters edge before we try to disengage the hook & gut the catch.

I have an arrangement with crocs, same as the one I have with sharks. They don't get into my bath, I don't get into theirs.

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As an old bushman told me, "You'll be Ok around crocs son, if you remember that their one aim in life is to EAT you."
I could never go near em after that LOL

Hairy
Hows things down the cold end....

Crocs, because people do just do stupid things , in this top photo they were warned to move but refused to go,

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Crocs dont eat much, i think they take there feed back to their nest or wotever it is and the food sits in their and rots, they just go back for a snack here and there.
I could be wrong.
Cheers Wayne