Crocodiles face both persecution from human conflict and illegal hunting, with welfare consequences for large-bodied reptiles capable of significant suffering.
Crocodiles caught in illegal hunting snares experience prolonged constriction and slow death before skin removal. Retaliatory killing following attacks uses methods including explosives and machetes that cause acute traumatic suffering. The recovery of crocodile populations under protection demonstrates that legal protection can reverse severe declines, but populations living near human communities face ongoing conflict-related mortality and welfare harm. Coexistence strategies including exclusion fencing around high-use water access points, community education, and rapid response teams for problem animals reduce both human fatalities and retaliatory crocodile killing.