The Environment Ministry is increasingly seen as a Ministry that understands nothing about the environment, wild life, water preservation, and pollution control. Almost every decision that comes out of it is a destructive one, and it works on the basis of politics rather than science.

The Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW) of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the man who is supposed to be protecting the wild animals on the islands, has actually written—the first time in India’s history that a CWW has done so—to the Ministry of Environment, asking to kill the salt water crocodiles on the grounds that a few tourists have been attacked.

Salt water crocodiles are severely endangered and have been given the highest protection in the Act—Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. One interesting aside is that crocodile skin sells for lakhs. It is smuggled outside the country and sold to make handbags and shoes. Many requests for “culling” have usually got this background and, no doubt, someone is doing business there as well.

The proposal has no basis in science or fact. Records reveal that only 23 attacks by salt water crocodiles have taken place  in the last 13 years, and none of them have been in a single place. They are spread out over the vast archipelago. In truth, the tourism industry wants the land to build hotels and take over the beaches.

Saltwater crocodiles are millions of years old. They are the largest of all living reptiles and are found in small groups in South-east Asia, Northern Australia. In India they are native to the Sunderbans, Bhitarkarnika in Odisha, and  the mangrove forests of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Though they spend much of their time in the water, they must come ashore to warm up in the sun and to nest.

Females lay about 50 eggs at a time, of which only one or two survive even though the mother looks after the nest carefully. Overheating, flooding and predation by lizards, dogs and feral pigs claim a high proportion of victims. Once they have reached maturity their only enemies are each other and humans.

Before the Act was made in 1972, they were poached for their skin, meat and as trophies. The species was reduced to 31 individuals when the Government of India launched a special conservation effort in 1975—Project Crocodile, and they were given ‘Schedule 1’ protection .

While the preservation of the species, in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, is counted as a success story, the fact is that salt water crocodiles have taken decades to even reach these small numbers. It has taken almost 45 years to grow to about 500 animals. Now, if killing takes place they will never revive again, because the gene pool is already stretched.

The move has attracted international concern. There is a great deal of literature on how to deal with man-crocodile conflict, and wildlife agencies are happy to provide the information – except that the local government doesn’t want to know.

Every year, from 1986, there is no more than one attack annually—if you go by government figures from 1986.  But the number of tourists has increased enormously—from 4,30,000 in 2016 to 5,00,000 in 2017. This has led to unplanned and haphazard growth and  increased activity along the coastline. Most attacks occur in narrow creeks near which human and crocodile populations overlap. Even after a number of warning signs, tourists invade restricted areas. No attempt has been made to regulate tourist behaviour. Beaches abroad have life guards. There are none  in the islands. We don’t even have wildlife rangers to patrol the crocodile areas.  And these crocodile areas are shrinking rapidly, with  human settlements increasingly taking over the crocodile’s land.

Most importantly, the attacks take place in the monsoon season which is the breeding season. This clearly shows that there is human encroachment on crocodile territory when a croc is at its most defensive, with males vying for females. Crocodiles are not human hunters.

Local tourist operators claim that there are far more crocodile sightings in human areas round the coast. The dumping of untreated kitchen waste, including raw chicken, fish and meat, by hotels and eateries that have mushroomed along the coast, has never been as rampant as it is now. Such practices  draw the creatures. Has the local administration done anything to restrict this?  Illegal slaughterhouses throw blood and offal straight into the waters. This will draw more crocodiles around the area.

Culling is going to have no effect on the human crocodile conflict. Crocodiles are territorial. If an adult male is killed, the vacant area will fill up with other adult males.

Salties are an important check on rodent populations, which are actually dangerous  on an island ecosystem. They also prevent illnesses spreading through insects. For example, river blindness among humans was caused by slaughter of crocs, whose young fed on snails which harboured the parasite responsible for the malady. They also prevent overpopulation of fish species in coastal regions and wetlands, which is pivotal in keeping these aquatic ecosystems healthy and balanced.

Crocodile excrement fertilizes the coastal land and waters. The nutrient content of their faeces feeds the invertebrates and the fish. This allows smaller aquatic organisms to thrive. Only when these organisms thrive the bigger fishes can live. Crocodile excreta also helps in the growth of healthy corals.

Down-listing the animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and removing the safeguards of a Schedule I species, will severely jeopardize the fate of this species across the country, as it could open up the flood gates for other states (like Sundarbans in West Bengal, Bhitarkarnika in Orissa) to seek permission for culling of salt water crocodiles on similar grounds, depending on which crocodile skin traders have moved in, and how much they pay the local officers.

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