THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS THE HARDEST I’ve ever had to

make. As I stood underneath that tree in Australia’s

Northern Territory, I thought about what the salt-

water crocodile hanging from it had lived through.

Born some 50 years ago, the reptile had grown from

a two-and-a-half-ounce hatchling into a 15-foot-long

colossus weighing 1,000 pounds. It hatched toward

the end of a 25-year period of intensive commercial

hunting that had pushed the species to the brink of

extinction. It was the perfect predator, and I feared

that I was somehow celebrating its death.

I made this photograph to commemorate an

epic hunt and the men who took part in it. Some

might assume that because they took its life, the

men standing beside the crocodile have no respect

for the animal. But I’ve learned that it’s possible for

hunters to love the creatures that they kill—and to

be part of a solution that saves a species. This is the

complex situation I wanted to explore when I docu-

mented crocodile hunting for National Geographic.

In 1971 saltwater crocodiles became protected in

the Northern Territory. As part of the government’s

strategy of “incentive-driven conservation,” a set

amount of eggs may be collected from the wild, with

the hatchlings eventually being farmed for their

skin; and a limited number of crocodiles, including

those that have threatened humans, may be hunted

each year. Even with that regulated harvesting, the

wild saltwater crocodile population in the Northern

Territory has grown from about 5,000 in the late

1960s to approximately 100,000 today, a number

scientists say is close to what it once was. To put

this into perspective: Fifty years ago, at the height

of commercial hunting, people would swim in the

region’s rivers and lagoons; now no one dares.

BY TREVOR BECK FROST

Death Comes

for a Crocodile

A PHOTOGRAPHER

CHRONICLES AN EPIC HUNT

FOR A SALTWATER

CROCODILE—A HUNT THAT’S

A SMALL BUT CRUCIAL PART

OF AN ONGOING PLAN TO

SAVE THE SPECIES.

EXPLORE | THROUGH THE LENS

T

38 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC