When conservation becomes dangerous: Human‐Crocodile conflict in Timor‐Leste

Abstract

In northern Australia and nearby Timor‐Leste, saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) populations were seriously depleted historically but recovered rapidly after protection: 1969–1974 in northern Australia, and 2000–2005 in Timor‐Leste. In both places, recovery caused increased rates of human‐crocodile conflict (HCC). Within northern Australia, the crocodile recovery and HCC have been documented over time. In contrast, this has not been the situation in Timor‐Leste, where we investigated HCC based on 130 attack records (1996–2014; 52% fatal). In 1996–2006, 0.55 attacks/year were reported in Timor‐Leste. By 2007–2014, 9 years later, a 23‐fold increase had occurred (13 attacks/year). Traditional subsistence fishing (82.5% of all attack records) is the highest risk activity, followed by bathing (7.5%) and water collecting (4.2%). Although the human population was correlated with crocodile attacks in Timor‐Leste, it likely does not explain the dramatic increase in crocodile attacks. Alternatively, crocodile numbers may have increased, either in the remnant resident crocodile population, or via migrants from elsewhere. Permanent crocodile habitat is limited, and limited breeding does not explain the high number of large crocodiles, and consequent increase in attacks in such a short time. A plausible explanation, consistent with traditional knowledge in Timor‐Leste, is that the influx of large crocodiles attacking people are migrants from Australia. We examined this possibility from available sources. Within Australia crocodiles have recovered since protection and they regularly invade adjacent habitats, such as Darwin harbor, where they are removed to prevent attacks on people. Saltwater crocodiles have been sighted at oil rigs, in the open ocean, moving between northern Australia and the south coast of Timor‐Leste. The likelihood of crocodiles migrating from Australia to Timor‐Leste raises obvious conservation, moral, and ethical dilemmas when conserving a large dangerous predator in one country to increase abundance results in dispersal to another country, where the predator attacks and kills people. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

Evaluating the Fit of Co-management for Small-Scale Fisheries Governance in Timor-Leste

“…In Timor-Leste, tourism is still in its infancy, with international visitor arrivals the lowest among Southeast Asian nations representing only 0.06% of international visitors in 2016 (UNWTO, 2017). The potential for tourism to benefit local livelihoods is not high for most communities in Timor-Leste, especially on the mainland, with low visitation rates and high numbers of saltwater crocodiles (Brackhane et al, 2018) which directly inhibit the potential beach and dive tourism associated with the development of LMMAs. Nonetheless, even remote community sites on the mainland are excited by the economic promise of tourism (WorldFish, unpubl.…”

Media Content Analysis of Human-Predator Interaction in Indonesia

“…Pemberian atribut kemanusiaan ini banyak digunakan dalam kampanye konservasi spesies karismatik untuk menarik dukungan konservasi (Smith et al, 2012;Verissimo et al, 2011) Pola pemberitaan IMH tersebut kontras dengan liputan IMB yang banyak menggunakan ilustrasi dan konten grafik (nada isi berita negatif) seperti membahas kondisi tragis korban secara berulang dengan memosisikan buaya sebagai pelaku. Perhatian terhadap konservasi buaya tidaklah setinggi harimau karena mereka tidak seterancam harimau dan kasus IMB yang lebih tinggi dan menyebar di seluruh Indonesia (Brackhane et al, 2018;Sergio et al, 2008;Wallace et al, 2011). Selain itu, pemberitaan dapat dipengaruhi oleh persepsi emosional yang melihat buaya sebagai satwa predator dengan manusia sebagai mangsa potensial (Jacobs, 2009).…”

Translocation, genetic structure and homing ability confirm geographic barriers disrupt saltwater crocodile movement and dispersal

“…Saltwater crocodiles occupy coastal seas, rivers, and a diversity of saline and freshwater wetlands associated with them. They move between rivers at sea [3,4], and are known to make long-distance sea journeys beyond the coastal fringe [2,5]. The coastal movements of C .…”

“…porosus create management problems throughout their range, because C . porosus are large predators that can prey on people [5–8]. Their arrival in coastal areas inhabited by people requires management interventions.…”