Push Admin

Briony was 11 when she was taken while swimming with her sister Bethany and friends at a waterhole in March 2009.

Article (news)

pain--08132024.jpg

Reuters

<p>When a saltwater crocodile killed Charlene O&#x27;Sullivan&#x27;s daughter 15 years ago, her first thought was that every one of the predators should be killed or caught around her home city of Darwin, to spare others from similar heartbreak.</p><p>Briony was 11 when she was taken while swimming with her sister Bethany and friends at a waterhole in March 2009.</p><p>&quot;So instead of them staying where they would normally play in the water, they walked a bit further down stream to a wider opening and that&#x27;s where it would all turn to horror,&quot; O&#x27;Sullivan said. She received only two of Briony’s bones back from authorities and buried them in place of her body, she told Reuters from Fogg Dam in the Northern Territory.</p><p>In the years following Briony’s death, O’Sullivan and her partner made a surprising move: they set up B.A. Crocs Australia, a crocodile farm that breeds thousands of the animals for both meat and skin. O’Sullivan named it after her daughter. To avoid any wastage, O’Sullivan started a small crocodile fashion business making wallets, handbags and other related products also named after Briony.</p><p>The farm has helped her better understand and respect crocodiles, O’Sullivan said.</p><p>&quot;I don&#x27;t for a moment blame the animal for what happened. It&#x27;s an animal, Briony was in the waterway, the animal did what the animal does.&quot;</p><p>Tony Blums, the owner of The Original Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruises, has spent 40 years showing off saltwater crocodiles to Australian and international tourists along the Adelaide River 66 km (41 miles) southeast of Darwin.</p><p>&quot;The lesson, I guess for all of us and every customer that comes here, after they see what the crocodiles can do here, they&#x27;re very careful,&quot; Blums said.</p><p>&quot;If it hasn&#x27;t got tiles on the bottom of it, don&#x27;t swim in it,&quot; he added.</p><p>But for the Northern Territory, the setting of Australia&#x27;s top-grossing movie &quot;Crocodile Dundee&quot;, with the world&#x27;s highest ratio of saltwater crocodiles to people, awareness campaigns alone no longer suffice, the government says.</p><p>The 250,000 people who live there could soon be outnumbered by the animals, whose numbers have exploded by 3,000% in 50 years, it says.</p><p>In April, the Northern Territory launched a new ten-year programme until 2034 to manage the number of crocodiles in the state. It aims to find a balance between conservation, sustainable harvest, growing the crocodile industry and public safety.</p><p>The government has the capacity to remove up to 1,200 of its estimated 100,000 saltwater crocodiles a year, a number that is not expected to affect a population that is near pre-hunting levels.</p><p>Crocodiles were nearly eradicated by 1970 due to unrestricted hunting. Tough conservation rules have driven up their numbers ever since.</p><p>The animal is now central to the economy and identity of the state, featuring prominently in the A$1.5 billion ($984 million) tourism industry of Northern Territory.</p><p>At the same time, it has impinged on human safety. There have been 18 reported encounters nationwide since the start of 2023, five of them fatal, says the CrocAttack database. In the past two months alone, crocodiles have killed two Australians - a 12-year-old Aboriginal girl in the Northern Territory and a 40-year-old man in Queensland.</p><p>Grahame Webb, a crocodile researcher who owns conservation-focused Crocodylus Park, supported the territory&#x27;s plan, because it gives authorities greater powers when a predator was in a dangerous place. However, he believed that a quota-based cull would have little benefit.</p><p>&quot;If you cut the number of crocs down by half, are you going to say it&#x27;s now safe to go back into the water? Well of course you&#x27;re not because these things are really serious predators. It&#x27;s no good trying to sugar coat it, these things will tear you to pieces.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><em>(Production: Stefica Nicol Bikes)</em></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Briony was 11 when she was taken while swimming with her sister Bethany and friends at a waterhole in March 2009.</p>

'The pain is still there', says mother whose daughter was killed by crocodile

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Traffic

Manila

Horoscope

News

'The pain is still there', says mother whose daughter was killed by crocodile

Reuters

Published Aug 13, 2024 05:35 PM PHT

|

Updated Aug 13, 2024 05:36 PM PHT

Read More:

crocodiles

Australia

Crocodylus Park

The Original Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruises

Adelaide River

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.