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Speaker 1: We know that a video posted to Facebook yesterday has

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Speaker 1: shown the sighting of a large saltwater crocodile near Hicks

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Speaker 1: Road at the Whitewood Road turnoff in the rural area

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Speaker 1: there near Howard Springs, a spot where people do I

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Speaker 1: think fish and swim if you live in that area

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Speaker 1: and you want to let us know. But in addition

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Speaker 1: to that, there was a three point seven to two

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Speaker 1: meter crocodile removed on Tuesday from the popular Manton Dam,

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Speaker 1: the overflow fishing spot there, causing calling, I should say,

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Speaker 1: renewed calls from the Department of Environment, Parks and Water

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Speaker 1: Security for croc safety and a bit of a reminder

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Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say for all of us

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Speaker 1: to make sure that we are being croc wise. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is Wildlife Ranger

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Speaker 1: Ian Hunt. Good morning to you, Ian, Good morning Katie,

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Speaker 1: and tell us a bit more about these two crocs. Well,

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Speaker 1: I know that there was a video on Facebook of

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Speaker 1: the saltwater crocodile near Hicks Road there at Whitewood Road.

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Speaker 1: Is that somewhere where people surely they don't swim in there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? That is unforcing a place where a lot of

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Speaker 2: people in the in the rural area, do you like

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Speaker 2: to go to cool off and have a swim. And

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Speaker 2: it's just calling, you know, for people to just be

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Speaker 2: very mindful of the fact that crocodiles move through that

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Speaker 2: area all the time. It's not something we're just saying to,

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Speaker 2: you know, to just because we enjoy saying it. It

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Speaker 2: is something that happens and that that video just clearly

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Speaker 2: shows how brazen those crops are moving up those creeks

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Speaker 2: and into waterways and places that peak people are swimming

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Speaker 2: with their kids and their pets.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was motoring as well. I thought, well, it

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Speaker 1: was like it was really moving. I thought you would

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Speaker 1: not want to be anywhere near it.

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Speaker 2: No, that's right, that's right. Yeah, they say those crops

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Speaker 2: move through those waterways very quickly, very easily, over rocky

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Speaker 2: waterways and over our crops. There no dramas at all.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Is it a commonplace where you find crocodiles in

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Speaker 1: that area.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we have removed crocodiles out of that creek obviously

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Speaker 2: this time of year when that water's right up. We

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Speaker 2: removed crocodiles in the past, and I'm sure we'll continue

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Speaker 2: to do so in the future.

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Speaker 1: Now I know that there was also a crocodile at

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Speaker 1: Manton Dam. I know plenty of people out there, wreck fishers, swimmers,

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Speaker 1: also those water skiing, et cetera. Whereabouts was this one?

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Speaker 2: So this crocodile on Monday was removed from the overflow

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Speaker 2: so past the dam wall. It flows into a creek

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Speaker 2: line there which goes past the old power station. And

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Speaker 2: it was just right there at the power station where

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Speaker 2: that crocodile was removed.

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Speaker 1: And is that somewhere where you've obviously caught them there

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Speaker 1: before as well?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an area where crocodiles. There's pretty much every

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Speaker 2: waterway in the top end we've caught crocodiles from there.

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Speaker 2: Crocodiles move around everywhere, but it's an area that was

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Speaker 2: highlighted to us because somebody had seen that crocodile when

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Speaker 2: they were out fishing alerted us to the fact that

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Speaker 2: there was a large crocodile in there, and we were

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Speaker 2: able to remove that crocodile quote in an a fishing

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Speaker 2: manner quite quickly, which was good.

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Speaker 1: And so this might be a stupid question, Ian, tell

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Speaker 1: me if it is. But obviously people do water ski

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Speaker 1: and do have their their recreational sort of activities in

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Speaker 1: Manton Dam. But this this is like it's still in

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Speaker 1: the vicinity, but in a separate area. Is that correct?

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Speaker 2: That's correct. So it's below the dam wall. That crocodile

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Speaker 2: would have had to walk up around through the rocky

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Speaker 2: outcrops that you get into the dam. We do have

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Speaker 2: traps in the Manton Dam area itself. We do remove

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Speaker 2: saltwater crocodiles from There is an area where we actively manage.

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Speaker 2: So we can't remove all risk. We can't remove every

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Speaker 2: single crocodile. Even though we are actively removing crocodiles from

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Speaker 2: the area, crops moving all the time undetected.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so you still have to be safe yep.

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Speaker 2: Still have to be vigilant, so have to be croc

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Speaker 2: wise and be aware the crops are in every waterway.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you have any idea at this point in time?

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Speaker 1: I know it's on the early days in the year,

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Speaker 1: but have you removed a few crocodiles from our waterways

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Speaker 1: so far this year?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Busy couple of months so far. We've up to

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Speaker 2: about thirty five crocodiles removed so far for twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 2: and there's some big, big crops as well. We've had

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Speaker 2: a couple over four meters and quite a few overtween

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Speaker 2: and a half removed from.

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Speaker 1: Creeks, and yeah, goodness me, that is a high number already,

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Speaker 1: given the fact that we're on the midway through February.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. So it's generally our busier time for

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Speaker 2: removing crocodiles during the wet season, so we expect to

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Speaker 2: see a lot more crowdile's been removed in the first

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Speaker 2: few months of the year. Yeah, but yeah, it's pretty

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Speaker 2: normal for us.

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Speaker 1: Now, mate, before I let you go, I understand that

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Speaker 1: your wonderful team, your Kroc management team is actually we'll

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Speaker 1: saying goodbye to Stuart somebody who's been working in the

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Speaker 1: team in parks for thirty eight years since nineteen eighty three.

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Speaker 1: He's done stints on the KROC team as well as

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Speaker 1: at parks across the Northern Territory and he was actually

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Speaker 1: one of the first rangers at Litchfield National Park.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Yes, Stuart Well has been a fantastic

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Speaker 2: ranger for say, almost forty years. It's been a mentor

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Speaker 2: to a lot of younger rangers coming through. He's been

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Speaker 2: instrumental in opening up places like Lichfield National Park and

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Speaker 2: even Limit National Park. He played an important role there

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Speaker 2: in opening that park up when it was a developing

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Speaker 2: young park. He's just been a fantastic guy and we're

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Speaker 2: going to miss him. Usually he's spent a lot of

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Speaker 2: time with the Crocodile Management team and we've learned a

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Speaker 2: lot from him, and we're going to miss him.

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Speaker 1: I bet you are what an amazing bloke. Thirty eight

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Speaker 1: years nearly forty years, that is unbelievable stuff. I understand

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Speaker 1: that he even has done some pretty crazy things like

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Speaker 1: catching crocodiles with Prince Harry.

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Speaker 2: Yeah that's eat. Yeah, he's done a few things like that.

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Speaker 2: He seems to get around and get all the good jobs.

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Speaker 1: Good on him. Will a big congratulations to him on

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Speaker 1: a very long career. What a wonderful achievement. And I

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Speaker 1: bet you guys are sad to see him guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be very different not having him around.

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Speaker 1: Well, Ian Hunt, we always appreciate your time, mate, Thank

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Speaker 1: you so very much for having a chat with us

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Speaker 1: and always a reminder for Territorians to be crock wise awesome.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for your time, Katie, Thank you