Croc feeding tourists: Why good crocs go bad
by SHARON GUYNUP
COSTA RICA (29 Sep 2003) -- Over a few weeks, a big American crocodile repeatedly lumbered into a village near Costa Rica's Tarcoles River and devoured some local dogs-not an unlikely occurrence in this region. Here, Pacific coastal development is bringing more people into crocodile territory-and tourists feed the crocs, helping them shed their natural fear of humans.
Unlike most countries, Costa Rica doesn't eradicate "problem crocs," but relocates them to less populated areas. But new tracking research suggests that for crocs, there's no place like home: 82 percent of displaced crocs returned, from as far as 62 miles (100 kilometers) away.
"As soon as you let them go, they seem to turn around and head home," said Perran Ross, a biologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville and coordinator of the Switzerland-based World Conservation Union's crocodile specialist group.
http://www.cdnn.info/eco/e030929/e030929.html