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Crocodile attack

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Crocodile warning sign, Trinity Beach, Queensland, Australia
Crocodile warning sign, Urban Park, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Crocodile attacks on people are common in places where large crocodilians are native and human populations live. Only six of the 23 crocodilian species are considered dangerous to adult humans, and only individuals 2 metres (6.6 ft) in length or more represent a serious danger to humans, as smaller crocodiles are considered incapable of killing a person. However, even the smallest species can inflict painful bites requiring stitches if harassed. In addition, a small child may be of a similar size to the prey of some of the crocodilian species incapable of preying on adult humans.

The two species with the most well-known and documented reputation for preying on humans are the Nile crocodile and saltwater crocodile. Each year, hundreds of deadly attacks are attributed to the Nile crocodile in sub-Saharan Africa. On New Guinea, Borneo and the Solomon Islands attacks by saltwater crocodiles often occur. The mugger crocodile is also very dangerous to humans, killing many people in India every year. The American crocodile is considered to be less aggressive. Only a few (unverified) cases of American crocodiles fatally attacking humans have been reported.[1] The black caiman is also responsible for several recorded human fatalities every year within the Amazon basin and the surrounding regions. The American alligator is responsible for human fatalities, with most occurring in Florida.

Background

An accurate count of annual crocodile attacks on humans is difficult to obtain. Many of the areas in which humans and large crocodiles come into contact are remote, impoverished, or in areas of political unrest. Crocodile attacks are not always reported to local authorities, and some reports are difficult to verify. Nevertheless, some information does exist: for example, it was reported by CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwe that in the first ten months of the year in 2005 crocodiles were the number one cause of death in humans where wildlife was involved – with the number of deaths cited as 13.

Unlike other "man-eating" crocodiles, such as the saltwater crocodile, the Nile crocodile lives in close proximity to human populations, so contact is more frequent. Although most attacks are not reported, the Nile crocodile is estimated to kill hundreds (possibly thousands) of people each year, which is more than all other crocodilian species combined.[2][3] One study posited the number of attacks by Nile crocodiles per year as 275 to 745, of which 63% are fatal, as opposed to an estimated 30 attacks per year by saltwater crocodiles, of which 50% are fatal. In both species, the mean size of crocodiles involved in nonfatal attacks was about 3 m (9.8 ft) as opposed to a reported range of 2.5–5 m (8.2–16 ft) or larger for crocodiles responsible for fatal attacks. Since a majority of fatal attacks are believed to be predatory in nature, the Nile crocodile can be considered the most prolific predator of humans among wild animals.[4]

The most deaths in a single crocodile attack incident may have occurred during the Battle of Ramree Island, on February 19, 1945, in what is now Burma. Nine hundred soldiers of an Imperial Japanese Army unit, in an attempt to retreat from the Royal Navy and rejoin a larger battalion of the Japanese infantry, crossed through ten miles of mangrove swamps that contained saltwater crocodiles. Twenty Japanese soldiers were captured alive by the British, and almost five hundred are known to have escaped Ramree. Many of the remainder may have been eaten by the crocodiles, although since this incident took place during an active military conflict, it is impossible to know how many deaths can be directly attributed to the crocodiles instead of to combat-related causes.[5]

Notable attacks

Saltwater crocodile

It is estimated that each year hundreds of people die from crocodile attacks in Africa – many of these attacks are never reported in the media. With no accurate reporting system in place, crocodile attacks in Africa are difficult to track and very few are reproduced here. The majority of attacks recorded below have occurred in Southeast Asia and Australia.

1990s
  • On May 22, 1992, an Iban girl, Dayang anak Bayang was killed by Bujang Senang at Pelaban River, another tributary of the great Batang Lupar River near Lingga in Sri Aman Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. The crocodile was shot to death by several police sharpshooters and Iban hunters.[6][unreliable source?] It was the biggest and oldest crocodile ever caught in the area.
2000s
  • In January 2001, attacks by mugger crocodiles were reported on tribal population around the Neyyar reservoir in Kerala, India. Muggers are raised and periodically released into the reservoir from the Neyyar crocodile centre.[7] This rare display of aggression was found to be the isolated behaviour of an abnormal minority among the Neyyar muggers which are usually not known to attack humans.[8]
  • In October 2002, 23-year-old German student Isabel von Jordan was killed by a saltwater crocodile in Kakadu National Park, Australia while swimming in the billabong with her sister and a few other backpackers.[9][10]
  • Estimated to be around 6.1 metres (20 ft) in length, and to weigh more than 907 kilograms (2,000 lb) Gustave has been credited with killing hundreds of people at the Rusizi River in Burundi.[11] Numerous capture attempts have been made, including using a massive bear trap in 2002; however, Gustave has evaded capture. Gustave is the basis of the film Primeval (originally titled "Gustave"), which follows a news team sent to Burundi to capture Gustave; while doing so they become a target of a warlord in the midst of an African civil war.
  • In December 2003, Brett Mann, 22, was killed after wading into the Finniss River, 80 km from Darwin, Australia.[10]
  • In August 2005, a 60-year-old man was dragged underwater by a crocodile in northeastern Australia.[10]
  • In September 2005, Russell Harris, a 37-year-old British engineer, was killed by a large saltwater crocodile while snorkeling off Picnic Beach in Australia.[10][12] His body was recovered.
  • In February 2006, a 9-year-old girl was killed by a crocodile as she crossed a shallow river in the western Philippines.[13]
  • On March 19, 2006, University of Washington medical professor Richard Root, age 68, who had moved to alleviate a shortage of physicians, was killed on a wildlife tour of the Limpopo River when a crocodile emerged from the river, and pulled him underwater.
  • In July 2006, an 8-year-old girl was killed by a 5-metre crocodile near the Northern Territory coastal community of Maningrida, Australia.[10]
  • In April 2007, a 9-year-old Chinese child was killed in a crocodile pool at the Silver Beach holiday resort in southwest Guangxi region.[14]
  • In September 2008, Vietnam veteran Arthur Booker, 62, was killed while checking crab pots at a holiday campsite on the Endeavour River near Cooktown in far north Queensland Australia.[10]
  • On February 8, 2009, 5-year-old Jeremy Doble was attacked by a crocodile in far north Queensland Daintree River, Australia. Police confirmed that human remains found in a saltwater crocodile caught nearby were those of the boy.[10][15]
  • In March 2009, an 11-year-old Briony Goodsell was killed by a saltwater crocodile in the Black Jungle Swamp in the outskirts of rural Darwin, Australia.[10]
  • In April 2009, a 20-year-old local man was taken by a crocodile while the man was swimming with his brother at night in the Daly River about 150 km south of Darwin, Australia.[10]
2010s
  • April 2010. A 25-year-old woman from New Jersey was killed by a saltwater crocodile while snorkeling in India's Andaman Islands. Havelock Island, where the attack took place, lies 45 miles from the Lohabarrack Salt Water Crocodile Sanctuary. Her boyfriend caught the attack on film; the camera was recovered two days later along with her remains.[16]
  • 7 December 2010. South African outdoorsman Hendrik Coetzee was presumed killed after being attacked by a crocodile on the morning of 7 December 2010. Coetzee was leading a kayaking expedition through Congo's Lukuga River at the time of the attack.[17]
  • 4 September 2011. A 20.2-foot (6.17-meter) saltwater crocodile, believed to be the biggest ever captured, was trapped in the southern Philippines after a spate of fatal attacks. The crocodile is suspected of eating a farmer who went missing in July in the town of Bunawan, and of killing a 12-year-old girl whose head was bitten off two years ago.[18][19][20][21][22]
  • December 2011. A 12-year-old boy was killed and eaten by a crocodile while playing with his friends in Wailolong River in eastern Indonesia.[23]
  • 19 January 2012. A crocodile swallowed a 10-year-old girl as she played in Wailolong River in eastern Indonesia. Her father and older brother were hunting turtles close by. At the time of the attack, her father was 5 metres (16 ft) away, but was helpless to save her.[23]
  • 25 August 2013. A 26-year-old man was killed by a saltwater crocodile while swimming in the Mary River of Australia's Northern Territory, about 65 miles east of the capital, Darwin. According to news reports he had ignored warning signs in the area.[24]
  • 24 May 2014. A fisherman was killed by a 15-foot crocodile while diving for sea cucumbers off Bataraza, Palawan, Philippines.
  • 7 June 2014. A 62-year-old man was taken by a 4.7m long crocodile in Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory.[25]
  • 24 August 2014. A man and his female companion were swimming in a canal in Gables by the Sea, a community in Coral Gables, Florida when they were bitten in the shoulder and the hand by an American crocodile. [26]
  • 4 December 2014. A 29 year old male was killed by a 3.9m crocodile at a golf course in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. [27]

Notable attack survivors

  • Australian philosopher Val Plumwood survived a prolonged saltwater crocodile attack during a solo canoe excursion in Kakadu National Park in 1985.[28] Plumwood recounted the details of the attack and her escape in her 1996 essay "Being Prey".[29] Following the attack she spent a month in intensive care in Darwin hospital and required extensive skin grafts.[30]

See also

References

  1. ^ The American Crocodile: Lifestyle http://people.wcsu.edu/pinout/herpetology/cacutus/#Lifestyle
  2. ^ Wood, The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. Sterling Pub Co Inc (1983), ISBN 978-0-85112-235-9
  3. ^ Caldicott, David G.E.; Croser, David; Manolis, Charlie; Webb, Grahame; Britton, Adam (1 September 2005). "Crocodile Attack in Australia: An Analysis of Its Incidence and Review of the Pathology and Management of Crocodilian Attacks in General". Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. 16 (3): 143–159. doi:10.1580/1080-6032(2005)16[143:CAIAAA]2.0.CO;2. PMID 16209470. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  4. ^ "Crocodilian Attacks". IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group (iucncsg.org). Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  5. ^ Frank McLynn: The Burma Campaign: Disaster Into Triumph, 1942-45. Yale University Press 2011, ISBN 978-0-300-17162-4, pp. 13-15, 459 (online copy, p. 13, at Google Books)
  6. ^ Bujang Senang in Malay with picture.
  7. ^ "People trap crocodile at Neyyar". hinduonnet.com. 2001-05-26. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  8. ^ Anand, G. (2001-01-04). "Killer crocodile abnormal". Chennai, India: hindu.com. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  9. ^ Wendy Lewis (2007). See Australia and Die. New Holland. ISBN 978-1-74110-583-4.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Recent crocodile deaths in Australia. Smh.com.au (2009-04-11). Retrieved on 2011-03-19.
  11. ^ McRae, Michael. "Gustave, the Killer Crocodile". National Geographic. National Geographic Adventure. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  12. ^ Snorkel Brit Is Killed By Croc. mirror.co.uk (2005-09-27). Retrieved on 2011-03-19.
  13. ^ Croc leaves only girl's head: World: News: News24. Replay.waybackmachine.org. Retrieved on 2011-03-19.
  14. ^ Croc kills kid at holiday park: News24: World: News. News24 (2007-04-22). Retrieved on 2011-03-19.
  15. ^ Boy's body found in crocodile BBC News, 18 February 2009.
  16. ^ Lauren Failla DEAD: Vanderbilt Alum Killed By Crocodile 4 Years After Sister Dies In Climbing Accident. Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved on 2011-03-19.
  17. ^ "River guide believed killed by crocodile in Congo". CNN. December 9, 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
  18. ^ ""Lolong" holds world record as largest croc in the world". Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  19. ^ Britton, Adam (12 November 2011). "Accurate length measurement for Lolong". Croc Blog. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  20. ^ "NatGeo team confirms Lolong the croc is world's longest". GMA News Online. 9 November 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  21. ^ "Philippine town claims world's largest crocodile title". The Telegraph. 9 November 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  22. ^ Died on 10 February 2013 8:04 pm At philippines , Bunawan title "'Lolong' claims world's largest croc title". ABS-CBNnews.com. Agence France-Presse. 9 November 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2012. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  23. ^ a b "Crocodile swallows Indonesian girl". Sydney Morning Herald. Agence France-Presse. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  24. ^ "Body found in Australia crocodile attack". BBC News. 26 August 2013.
  25. ^ "Human remains found inside one of two crocodiles shot by police searching for missing man in Kakadu". ABC News.
  26. ^ "Gables Croc Attack, First Time In Florida".
  27. ^ "Golfer killed by crocodile in Kruger National Park". Traveller.
  28. ^ "National Museum of Australia - Val Plumwood canoe".
  29. ^ Val Plumwood. "Surviving a Crocodile Attack". The Ultimate Journey. UTNE Reader.
  30. ^ Michelle Hamer (2004-12-01). "Taken by a crocodile". The Age (Interview).

Further reading

  • Edwards, Hugh Crocodile Attack/Dramatic True Stories of Fatal and Near-Fatal Encounters Between Humans and Crocodiles ISBN

0-06-016121-3 (1989)

  • Fitzgerald, Patrick Croc and Gator Attacks ISBN 0-516-23514-1 (2000)
General
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