{"id":139872,"date":"2025-09-13T01:05:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T01:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/139872\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T01:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T01:05:25","slug":"in-the-outback-theyre-wild-about-pet-crocodiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/139872\/","title":{"rendered":"In the outback, they\u2019re wild about pet crocodiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

When he\u2019s not behind the bar, there\u2019s nothing Steve Baldwin likes better than spending time with Sam and Agro. His pets came with the pub when he bought it, Baldwin admits, and then there is his family\u2019s long history with crocodiles. <\/p>\n

Although his ancestors spent much of their time shooting crocs in the Australian outback, counting themselves among the hunters who reduced their number to fewer than 3,000 in the north of the vast country before the practice was banned half a century ago, Baldwin is one of the first to be allowed to keep them as a pet. <\/p>\n

Baldwin is these days among those legally allowed to keep crocodiles as pets \u2014 after the Northern Territory government\u2019s decision a year ago to begin reissuing pet permits for the captive predators, a move hotly opposed by some conservationists. <\/p>\n

More than 60 new permits to keep pet crocodiles have been issued in recent months in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, which is almost seven times the size of the UK and where an estimated 100,000 crocodiles now live in the wild. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Stephen Baldwin, 70, feeds Sam, a huge 22-year-old saltwater crocodile that he keeps at the back of his property<\/p>\n

ALANA HOLMBERG FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Baldwin\u2019s crocs \u2014 Sam is more than 3.5m long and Agro is slightly smaller \u2014 live alongside his tiny pub in the hamlet of Larrimah, about 300 miles south of Darwin. <\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s foremost crocodile scientist, Professor Grahame Webb, is among those who supported the restoration of crocodile-keeping. \u201cEvery person that has a pet crocodile is a bit of an ambassador for crocodiles,\u201d Webb told The Times from Darwin. \u201cSo they become, in the community, our little friend \u2014 not that bloody crocodile. Having a pet crocodile is not an oddball thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baldwin said: \u201cThey came with the pub, but, you know, I\u2019m from the territory and we go back. My family was shooting crocs back in the 1960s and 1970s before all that became illegal so I always had lots to do with crocs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pub, which Baldwin bought seven years ago, is the focal point for Larrimah\u2019s 20 or so inhabitants. When Baldwin took over, Sam was still under suspicion by some over the sudden disappearance a year earlier of the Larrimah resident Paddy Moriarty<\/a>, a 70-year-old Irishman. His disappearance gripped Australia, especially after police said everybody in Larrimah was a person of interest in the ultimately fruitless hunt for Moriarty.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Outback \u2018murder\u2019 of grumpy Irishman leads to no charges<\/a><\/p>\n

At least 44 people have been killed by crocodiles since they have been protected but Moriarty was not among them, Baldwin insists. He still faces questions about Moriarty\u2019s disappearance and Sam\u2019s possible role from travellers on the 1,700-mile Stuart Highway that passes Larrimah on its lonely route through the central Australian desert. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe geriatric tourists we have coming in ask silly questions all the time,\u201d said Baldwin. \u201cLike whether Paddy is in the pies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/p>\n

Crocodiles are now permitted to be kept as pets<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Trevor Sullivan, 62, feeds Big Jack, one of 13 crocodiles he owns and keeps on his property in Batchelor, Northern Territory<\/p>\n

ALANA HOLMBERG FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

About an hour\u2019s drive south of Darwin, Trevor Sullivan shares his rainforest home with a 5m male crocodile named Shah. Believed to be more than 80 years old, the monster was one of eight saltwater and three less dangerous freshwater crocodiles that Sullivan has kept as pets. He is now trying to slim down his collection. <\/p>\n

He wants to sell his forest home and mango tree orchard and is looking for a buyer who will care for his remaining pets, including Shah. Most are crocs he rescued from the Northern Territory\u2019s commercial farms, where they are held captive until being slaughtered for their skins, used for expensive handbags and other products. <\/p>\n

\"Trevor<\/p>\n

Sullivan and one of his dogs at the freshwater spring on his property, which is for sale<\/p>\n

ALANA HOLMBERG FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

\u201cCrocodiles are in a class of their own,\u201d said Sullivan. \u201cThey\u2019re up there with dinosaurs and dragons and when you\u2019ve had a crocodile, not much else comes close to cutting it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have spent the last 15 years bringing back the wildlife from years of abuse by poisons and sprays and pharmacies. I just saw it as a chance where we could give back to the animals that gave us our lifetime, our livelihoods,\u201d he said of his property in the Eva Valley outside Darwin. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sullivan with three more of his saltwater crocodiles<\/p>\n

ALANA HOLMBERG FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

This week, Matt Wright, the Netflix and Apple TV reality star who specialised in catching the outback\u2019s large wild crocodiles, also put his luxury Darwin home on the market. It comes with his 15ft pet crocodile, Spicy.<\/p>\n

The sale follows the 46-year-old Wright\u2019s conviction in a Darwin court last month<\/a> of conspiring to cover up events that preceded a catastrophic helicopter crash that killed his co-star. Wright made the offer to include his pet crocodile in the sale of the house in a post on Instagram. \u201cIf you really, really want the place, I\u2019ll even leave ya with Spicy,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you really want the place, you get him with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Sullivan pets the snout of Shah, a 125-year-old crocodile<\/p>\n

ALANA HOLMBERG FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Those who apply for permits to keep pet crocodiles in the Northern Territory must provide evidence of the animal\u2019s security and their ability to care for their pets. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a pet crocodile is one of those unique Territory lifestyle things that happen up here,\u201d the Northern Territory\u2019s minister for wildlife, Marie-Clare Boothby, said after the government announced the surge in pet crocodile permits.<\/p>\n

\"Person<\/p>\n

Matt Wright\u2019s pet croc, Spicy<\/p>\n

However, opinion remains sharply divided across the rest of Australia, where pet crocodiles are banned \u2014 although the southern state of Victoria does allow the keeping of small crocodiles.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Wanted in Australia: rich tourists to kill crocodiles<\/a><\/p>\n

In Queensland, which, along with the Northern Territory, has a large wild crocodile population, MPs last month defeated a motion to cull wild crocodiles and to allow safari-style hunting parties.<\/p>\n

It followed a series of fatal crocodile attacks, including the death of a young doctor<\/a> who slipped into a Queensland river last year while walking with his wife and children. He was taken by a large crocodile. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Bob Irwin, the father of Australia\u2019s famous \u201cCrocodile Hunter\u201d, Steve Irwin, retaliated after an American influencer posted videos of himself catching crocodiles in Far North Queensland.<\/p>\n

Mike Holston \u2014 also known as \u201cThe Real Tarzan\u201d on social media \u2014 on Friday shared a clip of himself jumping out of a boat and chasing a freshwater crocodile through ankle-deep water before diving on it. He is seen laughing as he holds the reptile around the neck and claims \u201cthis is what dreams are made of\u201d. The 31-year-old, with 15.5 million followers on Instagram alone, said he had dreamt of coming to Australia and seeing crocodiles up close since he was a child. <\/p>\n

Irwin said: \u201cPeople visiting our country need to respect our wildlife, or they need to be booted out the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sullivan, however, there is still one pet that rises head and shoulders above a croc \u2014 a dog. \u201cYou can\u2019t beat a dog,\u201d he said. \u201cThe dogs are kings. You know, they always will be there. But a crocodile is there when you want something special, something earth-cracking, a crowd-pleaser that does party tricks and can crush up a pig.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When he\u2019s not behind the bar, there\u2019s nothing Steve Baldwin likes better than spending time with Sam and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-139872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}