outdoors

Readers favor crocodile hunting

by Eric Jackson

Over the summer The Panama News took a long-running reader response poll about the problems posed by a booming crocodile population in Gatun Lake, which, along with Panama Canal Authority policies and in fact as a part of an ACP policy, has all but killed the lake's recreational uses.

Let us admit from the outset that the reader response method does not make for a scientifically random sampling, and that even if it did a collection of 28 responses is not big enough to be very precise in its representation of a larger pool of public opinion. There were also clear Atlantic sider and Zonian trends in the more than two dozen responses we got and that also figures --- all but one of the people who responded had memories of swimming in Gatun Lake, something that's not often done anymore. Most of the responses were from people who live here, the rest from those who used to live here. A couple of the responses were tongue in cheek.

By a 25-3 margin, people were for crocodile hunting as a means to control the reptiles' population. Among the minority who were not, there were concerns that people with guns in canal waters were a security threat, and that Panama is institutionally unprepared for the legalization of hunting and an increase in poaching that might come with it.

All who expressed an opinion were against the feeding of crocodiles.

The big division among those who responded, roughly down the middle when answers to a series of the questions were considered, is about how they see Panama's public institutions and governments in general. About half of those who favor hunting would prefer to see it by private individuals, with few government restrictions except maybe the required purchase of a hunting license. The other main trend was for strictly regulated hunting, including some who favor either the ACP taking up where former American canal administrations left off and hunting the crocodiles itself or contracting with a private party for a concession to hunt the animals. On the question of who should be in charge of any licensing for legalized crocodile hunting by individuals, there was no consensus: some said that ACP, some said the National Environmental Authority (ANAM), some said by a new entity, several said that the expertise at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute should be relied upon, a few would put licensing into the hands of a private contractor. Overall, however, there was a palpable divide between those expressing at least some confidence in an existing Panamanian public institution and those preferring some other alternative.

A lot of the people who are for crocodile hunting were not, however, for the commercialization of crocodile products. Stuffed baby crocodiles and Panama Canal brand rock and roll boots, so it seems, would be tacky to these readers.

What significance can be drawn from all of this?

There is substantial support out there for crocodile hunting in the waters created for the Panama Canal. There is also a widespread belief that feeding the crocs to create an attraction for tourists is a stupid and destructive practice that ought to be banned. These ideas really should become part of the national political debate on environmental policy.

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In an octopus's garden
Milton Roldan's tanagers

What should we do about the growing crocodile population?