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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: Disturbing footage has been shared on social media of a

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Speaker 2: young child playing near the water's edge of croc infested

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Speaker 2: kay Hills crossing Now. This video was posted to Instagram

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Speaker 2: by tour company c Around Australia and it shows several

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Speaker 2: adults and kids hanging around, with a woman and a

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Speaker 2: child hopping across some rocks to wet a line. Now,

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Speaker 2: the company took to social media calling out their lack

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Speaker 2: of regard for safety when it comes to the apex predators. Now.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line is Northern.

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Speaker 2: Territory Parks and Wildlife Community Engagement Manager Claire ps.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Claire, good morning and how you.

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Speaker 1: I'm very well, thanks so much for joining us.

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Speaker 2: Now. I know that kay Hills as I understand it,

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Speaker 2: it doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of NT Parks.

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Speaker 1: But have you seen that footage?

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Speaker 3: I certainly have, ca Doi, you certainly have seen footage.

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Speaker 3: It's been quite widely spread all over all over social media.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's terra like or it's terrible in the sense this.

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Speaker 2: You know, they're so close to the water, you can

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Speaker 2: see those crocodiles everywhere.

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Speaker 1: I mean, how concerning is this?

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Speaker 3: It's fairly concerning. We find that the people of the

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Speaker 3: Northern Territory are actually pretty good at supporting each other

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Speaker 3: to be safe around crocodiles and to make safe decisions

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Speaker 3: about how they behavior around crocodiles. And you know, we

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Speaker 3: always love to promote the five meter rules. You know,

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Speaker 3: if you're standing five meters back from the water at

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Speaker 3: all times, usually you're fairly okay, particularly if there's something

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Speaker 3: in between you and the water, like you and you've

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Speaker 3: got a big rock or a or a log or

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Speaker 3: something like that while you're fishing, particularly when you're fishing

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Speaker 3: from the bank.

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Speaker 2: Now, yeah, so talk us through really what some of

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Speaker 2: those safety measures are. I suppose for a lot of

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Speaker 2: long time territories they'd be pretty crock wise, but I

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Speaker 2: reckon it's always good to have a bit of a reminder, Claire.

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Speaker 3: It certainly is great to have a reminder. And I

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Speaker 3: mean the first thing is just to be aware that

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Speaker 3: the crocodiles are in our top end waterways. And that's

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Speaker 3: in all of our top end waterways, so you know,

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Speaker 3: that's Darwin Harbor and all of our major rivers, right

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Speaker 3: down to the smallest water culvert on the side of

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Speaker 3: the road. So just be aware that the salt water

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Speaker 3: crocodiles are around and that's their home and they're going

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Speaker 3: to be there. The next one is that they're really common.

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Speaker 3: You know, people we used to shoot them back in

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Speaker 3: the day, and you know, luckily we decided that wasn't

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Speaker 3: a great idea because they almost became extinct and they

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Speaker 3: are a very important part of an orderentarity landscape, both culturally,

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Speaker 3: economically and ecologically. So crocodiles are protected and they are

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Speaker 3: now back to where they should be. So, you know, crocodiles,

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Speaker 3: there's more crocodiles in the lad And Territory than they

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Speaker 3: were when I was a kid. I know that much.

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Speaker 3: It's because we've actually had a massive environmental success story

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Speaker 3: and we're looking after crocodiles really well. So just be

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Speaker 3: aware that they're there. And then the next thing is

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Speaker 3: to really have a good thing about what you're doing

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Speaker 3: when you're out on the water or you know, going

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Speaker 3: for a swim or standing on the bank fishing. You know,

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Speaker 3: we can fuild all these wonderful things that pardon pass

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Speaker 3: or of the Northern Territory lifestyle, but we go swimming.

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Speaker 3: Where crocodile management has been done to make it, you know,

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Speaker 3: an okay place to be hopping into the water at

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Speaker 3: certain times of the year. Yes, we stand five meters

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Speaker 3: back from the water when we are fishing from the bank,

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Speaker 3: or you know, when we're looking at our beautiful rivers

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Speaker 3: or bird watching even or when we're camping, you know,

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Speaker 3: camp as far back from the water as possible. We

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Speaker 3: have had a few incidents where people have woken up

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Speaker 3: to crocodiles wandering around camp.

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Speaker 1: Oh, that would not be a fun way to wake

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Speaker 1: up clan.

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Speaker 3: No, that would be completely this concerting, wouldn't it. And

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Speaker 3: of course when you're fishing from a boat, you know,

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Speaker 3: be very very aware of of your hands and feet

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Speaker 3: and body going anywhere near the water. You use a

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Speaker 3: gaff or a net to retrieve your fish, and you know,

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Speaker 3: be very very careful when you're releasing. Don't counter and release,

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Speaker 3: you know, do that in a safe way as well too.

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Speaker 3: And what we always say as well is to keep

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Speaker 3: your eyes on your kids at all times when you're

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Speaker 3: around the water, and make sure you clean up after

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Speaker 3: you you know, take your whole fish home. Don't leave

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Speaker 3: any fishing rubbish or anything like that hanging around, particularly

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Speaker 3: around boat ramps because crocodiles are quite clever and they

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Speaker 3: get to know where they can pick up a free feed,

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Speaker 3: so you know, clean up all your fishing scraps. That's

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Speaker 3: another another really great thing to do.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, clear.

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Speaker 2: I mean, do you reckon, like when you see that

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Speaker 2: kind of behavior, or when you see people that are

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Speaker 2: really close to the water like that, do you reckon?

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Speaker 2: You know, do you think it's just a matter of

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Speaker 2: there being tourists and maybe they're just not aware or

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Speaker 2: what do you think? You know, it goes through people's

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Speaker 2: brains because I guess for some of us locally, we

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Speaker 2: just think, oh my goodness, I wouldn't go anywhere near that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it. That the whole tourism thing

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Speaker 3: we're finding that a lot of tourists actually come up with.

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Speaker 3: They're really quite excited around crocodiles, about crocodiles, yep, and

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Speaker 3: they desperately want to see them. You know. That's why

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Speaker 3: a lot of our tourists actually come to the Northern

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Speaker 3: Territory is to see these magnificent animals in the wild,

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Speaker 3: and so sometimes they can actually be more aware. But

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Speaker 3: where we I think sometimes fall down is we're not

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Speaker 3: helping each other make the right decision. And so a

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Speaker 3: tourist might come to the Northern Territory and they might

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Speaker 3: see a local doing something that perhaps is a bit

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Speaker 3: more dangerous than, you know, what they otherwise could be doing,

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Speaker 3: and then the tourists will actually be copying what the

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Speaker 3: locals are doing. And I find that that's where we

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Speaker 3: run into dramas. And what we would love to to

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Speaker 3: really encourage everybody to do is to help each other

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Speaker 3: make those wonderfully safe decisions and so we can all

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Speaker 3: be sensible and safe when we're living in crocodile habitats.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, fair cool.

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Speaker 2: Hey, before I let you go, Claire, I know that

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Speaker 2: you know there are some locations around the top end

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Speaker 2: at the moment where plenty of people ask for me.

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Speaker 2: My understanding is that there are lifeguards patrolling some of

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Speaker 2: those areas, like Nightcliffe Beach for example, where at different

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Speaker 2: times we have spotted crocs in those areas. So what

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Speaker 2: is the situation at this time of the year. Are

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Speaker 2: some of those different areas patrolled, Katie?

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Speaker 3: That's probably you know, if it's not on a park, Oh.

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Speaker 1: We can double check, Yeah, we can follow that.

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Speaker 3: But you know what, we always what we always really

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Speaker 3: try and do is say to people to encourage each

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Speaker 3: other to make safe and sensible decisions when they are

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Speaker 3: in crocodile habitat. And again, you know, crocodiles are found

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Speaker 3: throughout top end waterways, and to remember that we've got

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Speaker 3: some wonderful national parks and reserves in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 3: where swimming areas are managed for salt water crocodiles and

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Speaker 3: have very intensive management management programs. And those swimming areas

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Speaker 3: can actually be found on the Northern Turretory Park's website.

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Speaker 3: People can find all of those areas where where we

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Speaker 3: do manage for saltwater crocodiles and they can go swimming there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff for Claire ps NT Parks and Wildlife

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Speaker 2: Community Engagement Manager.

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Speaker 1: Good to speak with you this morning. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for your time.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Katie, Thank you