Posted on 10/19/2005 8:25:50 AM PDT by dead
SYDNEY - Almost one in three people bitten by deadly saltwater crocodiles in Australia had been drinking alcohol before the animal attacked, new research has found.
An Australian review of unprovoked crocodile attacks on humans between 1971 and 2004 found that 29 percent of the 62 attacks had involved some alcohol consumption by the victim.
"About one-third of the people who had been attacked had actually been drinking alcohol," study co-author Charlie Manolis said.
"But it doesn't mean they were ... (drunk) when they fell into the river - although it did happen."
Manolis said the research found that crocodiles were opportunistic predators and that when people took risks while in their habitat, they sometimes paid the ultimate price.
"Sometimes when people do drink they throw caution to the wind," he said.
The study, published in the US-based Wilderness Medical Society journal, found that fatal attacks had remained roughly stable at about two per year since the 1970s.
"But the number of non-fatal attacks has increased markedly," Manolis said.
Non-fatal attacks increased sharply from about 0.1 per year between 1971 and 1980 to 3.3 per year from 2001 to 2004, according to the study.
The research found that most attacks (81 percent) occurred while the victim was swimming or wading and that all fatal attacks involved water.
Manolis said the dramatic increase in the saltwater crocodile population since the species was protected in the early 1970s was not necessarily responsible for the increase in attacks.
The number of wild "salties" estimated to live in the Northern Territory has jumped from as few as 3,000 in 1971 to more than 75,000 currently.
He said because the average size of crocodiles had increased over that time, the animals attacking humans had often changed from a small "hatchling" to a four-metre giant weighing hundreds of kilograms.
Last month a man was killed by a five-metre crocodile while diving near Darwin, five days after a British snorkeller was taken and killed by a croc.
Manolis does not think culling is the answer.
"It's people being sensible," he said.
Sapa-AFP
Non-fatal attacks increased sharply from about 0.1 per year between 1971 and 1980 to 3.3 per year from 2001 to 2004…The number of wild "salties" estimated to live in the Northern Territory has jumped from as few as 3,000 in 1971 to more than 75,000 currently…Manolis said the dramatic increase in the saltwater crocodile population since the species was protected in the early 1970s was not necessarily responsible for the increase in attacks.
No, of course not. Obviously the fact that there was a 2500% increase in the crocodile population has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there was a huge increase in croc attacks.
Manolis does not think culling is the answer.
No, of course not. And nothing adds excitement to an exploding crocodile population like an almost complete ban on gun ownership by the citizenry! Crocs must think they’ve stumbled upon the land of the eternally free buffett.
Crocs.....The OTHER white meat...........
Hold muh beer, mate??
Don't blame 'em. I like my meat marinated too.
"Nothing improves the taste of meat quite like a good marinade!" -- Ray Croc
It's well known that crocs like 'marinated meat.'
What amazes me is the other 71% of attack victims who apparently were sober. Sounds like the drunks have a greater success rate.
What amazes me is the other 71% of attack victims who apparently were sober. Sounds like the drunks have a greater success rate.
Hold muh FOSTER'S, mate!.............
Sorry, pal, but "people being sensible" would involve killing as many of the damn things as possible. Keep just enough of 'em to make those nice shoes, belts and stuff.
Going swimming in the waters of Northern Australia has got to rate you an automatic nomination...I mean, outside of the fearless man-eating (one of only several species that has utterly NO fear of man whatsoever) Salties, which have been documented to reach a ton and 20 feet in weight, what else is there to worry about, right?
Ummm...lessee...Great Whites, poisonous tiny killer jellyfish, Deadly Stonefish, Deadly Blue-Ringed Octopi and Deadly Sea Snakes, yeah, a snorkeler's paradise, yessiree......
But if you stay on land you've got even more Deadly snakes, and then there's the old Sydney Funnel-Web Spider that can bite through a tin can with its one-inch fangs and deliver one of the deadliest posions on planet earth....
Australia - a nature-lovers paradise
Hey, nothing to worry about - all of our critters listed above are so poisonous you'll be dead in less than an hour, so you won't suffer much (except from that little jelly - you will feel unimaginable pain for weeks and months IF it doesn't kill you quickly......)..
Now New Zealand - now there's an island paradise without all those nasty critters...
Sound like instead of throwing "caution to the wind" they are throwing rears to the water.
Wonder if the crocs pefer Foster's as the marinade or follow the French wine sensibilities.
I know, because I funded a small corner of the gigundo Buffett empire.
Australia has other dangers than the Saltwater croc.
Ever heard of the Box Jellyfish? It`s most poisonous creature on earth.You get stung by one morphine won`t help.
Another one is the funnel web spider.A bite will send you into seizures,you then turn blue.Lights out then.
It`s a tough place,beautiful,but tough.
"Sorry, pal, but "people being sensible" would involve killing as many of the damn things as possible".
Oz is a lovely place, but like any place you aren't familiar with, it has its' dangers. In my development, guaranteed, every year, a new resident gets a Black Widow sting in fall while bringing in firewood from the back yard.
After the first one, or seeing the first one, you learn to wear work gloves, and look first. . . . (grin)
I am Jack's total lack of surprise.
Looks like having a beer before being around crocodiles is like putting on insect repellant before being around mosquitoes...10% of the population accounts for 71% of the croc victims?
Only one in three were drinking? Heck, I'd think that was below average for the Aussie population....
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