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| The Gun Nuts are loose again! |
paraclete |
07/06/07 |
or is it that Bob Katter is loose again?
You can tell it's an election year, the red necks are out in force.
Bob Katter calls for guns to fend off crocodile 'plague'
By Brian Williams
July 06, 2007 01:00am
Article from: The Courier-Mail
* MP says croc 'plague' spreading to new towns
* Says people should be armed and allowed to shoot
* Minister rejects 'gun-happy hillbillies' plan
ALL north Queensland residents and travellers should be armed with high-calibre weapons to protect themselves from crocodiles, according to maverick MP Bob Katter.
Mr Katter said croc numbers had reached plague proportions and the reptiles were being seen in places never before recorded.
"This is unprecedented in human history," Mr Katter said.
"They are knocking (ecosystems) out of gear ... and when you get them in those numbers, they are eating barra that have never been eaten before."
He said northerners were increasingly worried about the reptiles - which were almost exterminated by hunters in the 1960s - after sightings near beaches, boat ramps and swimming holes.
Croc sightings are reasonably common around Cairns and Townsville, where residents reported crocodiles off the town beach late last year.
Queensland Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald is also a longtime proponent of culling and northern MHR Warren Entsch has argued that trophy hunting might be a way of bringing revenue to remote communities.
Mr Katter said the state Government's crocodile management plan, which did not allow culling, was a joke.
"Should we have our kids eaten because of a decision by some absolute imbecilic public servant who's never been off the bitumen in Brisbane?" he said.
"People should be armed. What do they want us to do? Knock them on the head with a hammer?"
Environment Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr said Mr Katter's suggestions were ridiculous.
"The last thing Queensland needs is a bunch of gun-happy hillbillies on a crocodile shoot," she said.
Australia Zoo spokesman Wes Mannion, who captured rogue crocodiles with wildlife celebrity Steve Irwin, said there were many things in the world more dangerous than crocodiles.
"What about Mr Katter's car? Cars kill thousands of people each year," Mr Mannion said.
Environmental Protection Agency wildlife conservation branch director Rebecca Williams said there had been 17 attacks since 1985, and of those five were fatal.
Research by Queensland Parks and Wildlife scientist Mark Read has shown that about 60 per cent of people involved in incidents with crocodiles had been drinking.
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