Tourists Ogle Jamaica's Crocodiles Closeup

B L A C K   R I V E R, Jamaica, Sept. 12 -- By mid-morning, it seems, every creature in this sleepy seaside town is stirring. Women gut fish in the market, dogs and goats forage through piles of garbage — and crocodiles float casually in the Black River, warming their blood in the soothing sun.

It’s showtime for Michael Griffiths.

With his boatload of tourists watching agape, he stands on the bow and splashes a chicken breast in the murky waters. An eight-foot crocodile cautiously inches forward, lured from a mangrove shelter by the promise of the tasty morsel. Cameras start clicking. But in a flash the beast is gone, spooked by the engine of another boat.

Griffiths, who leads such tours five days a week, had a close call a few years ago when a crocodile sank its teeth into his wrist, causing a bloody scare and leaving serious scars. But now, he says, “We have an understanding. I give them a little bit of food and they don’t eat me. Sometimes I pet them on the head, you know, to let them know I care.”

Not always were Jamaica’s saltwater crocodiles so coddled.

They were once so plentiful along the island’s south coast that their image crowns the country’s coat of arms and is stenciled onto bumpers of Jamaica Defense Force vehicles.

But they were hunted regularly by visitors and locals alike until 1971, when the government declared them a protected species. Still, even today many younger crocs are killed — most chopped and clubbed to death — and some fear they may disappear altogether as a result of developers encroaching on their habitat. There are still smaller communities of crocodiles elsewhere in Jamaica, although exact numbers are unavailable.

Pushed Out of Nesting Areas

Decades-old efforts have stalled to make a national park of the 125-square-mile wetland, 40 miles southeast of the resort of Negril. Government officials say the plan is still alive, but with the economy stagnant and the population growing, all options must be considered.