Killer Crocodiles: How One Man Campaigned for Survival

Crocodiles have become big business, for the tourist industry and for handbag manufacturers.

These days, you can fly to northern Australia and indulge in a variety of chilling thrills. On the Adelaide River, south of Darwin in the Northern Territory, various operators offer close encounters with the hungry monsters.

They dangle chunks of meat from the side of open boats and leap on top of crocodiles to enjoy their lunch, their massive jaws snapping just inches from tourists.

At Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin you can enter the Death Cage, a clear acrylic box that is lowered into the enclosures of three giant crocodiles. If they are in a bad mood, watch out!

These days, thousands of saurians are farmed for their prized skins and also for their meat. Australia has realized that these primitive creatures are not a curse, but an asset.

That’s a huge change from the time I was living in the wild north of Australia and made friends with a pioneer in crocodile farming.

Ron Pawlowski and his wife Kris immigrated to Australia from their native Poland after suffering hardships and hair-raising adventures during World War II. Good training for the tough life indoors.

As a new and penniless immigrant, Ron did everything from panning for gold to hunting kangaroos. The pair then settled in a remote corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland and became expert crocodile hunters.

In 1957, Kris, a first-class shot, killed a 28-foot-four-inch-long monster, the largest crocodile ever bagged in Australia. All kinds of implausible stories about monstrous crocodiles have circulated, but in this case there seems to be no doubt about the facts.

Kris’ feat made her famous and earned her a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. She noted: “I would never shoot one like that again. He was such a magnificent specimen.”

In all, the Pawlowskis shot up to 10,000 saltwater crocodiles, which they sold for their skins. They became legends, and then conservationists, when they realized that the species was in danger of extinction.

They began to campaign for the protection of crocodiles and for the establishment of farms where the reptiles could be raised for their precious skins.

But they did so before their time and failed to gain the support of the politicians who ruled the state of Queensland. They were forced to give up their own crocodile farm.

Ron continued his campaign, even testifying before members of the Australian Parliament. Finally, the national government ordered the protection of both saltwater and freshwater species.

The numbers have swelled dramatically. Crocodile breeding farms have been established throughout the north and are making huge profits.

If you visit Australia and see one of the crocodile farms, remember the man who helped save the saurian, Ron Pawlowski, an indomitable survivor of the horrors of war who built a new life in a new land and made a difference.

Today he lives in peace in the town of Cairns, very useful for those who want to visit the Barrier Reef.