Crocodile attacks in Australia are on the rise, especially in the northern part of the country where an estimated 130,000 saltwater crocs are freely roaming and snapping, biting and eating animals and humans. The rise in population of croc is attributed to the hunting ban that wildlife authorities enforced in the early 1970s.

They are found in creeks, rivers and swamps and often could easily enter people's backyards, resulting in a number of calls made to the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory.

"We got call-outs to them walking into people's lounge rooms. Lots of people here live on creeks. They have big, open houses. When the rivers rise, the crocs are able to go wherever they like. Quite often they'll walk up into people's backyards looking for their dogs or different things, so they are in very close proximity with people here," BBC quoted Rachel Pearce of the commission.

As a result, there is at least one croc-related fatality per year in addition to episodes of near misses.

For residents who would find such unwelcome visitors inside their homes, the commission advises them not to attempt to wrestle with the reptile, but report it to wildlife authorities right away.

Estimates place Australia's loose croc headcount at 80,000 in the Northern Territory and another 50,000 in Queensland and Western Australia. Darwin authorities have set up a 50-kilometre crocodile-free exclusion zone where traps are placed and catch hundreds of the animals yearly that are later sold to crocodile farms where the animals end up slaughtered for the meat and skin which are made into belts, bags and other souvenir items.

Besides Australia, crocs are also roaming in tropical regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas.

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