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comprising fody questiotrs, wad put to the group upon thei return and so the lack
itr certain opinions could lead one to consider following up this work with another
psychological enquiry after the third cotlection season.
Be that as it may, the fist rcplies are odgitral and tlerefore the most interesting,
The questions to which answe$ wele most sought after were prinicpally the
following:
a) are the people interested in crocodile egg collection?
b) are the people organised with regard to egg collection?
c) has the attitude of the people to qocodiles changed?
d) are the crocodiles still hunted? or the eggs destroyed?
e) is thele indifferetrt protectior from the locals for crocodiles?
f) what are the aspirations of the people for the future?
The results were different from the different sites of enquiry, However, it showed
that the most positive results invariably came from the area where collection was
the most important to the people and where the ecooomic incentive was equally
rmponanL
a) On the subject of the interest of the people towards clocodile egg collection the
respolse was undeniably positive. Indeed, the region was very poor and the
economic retums poor due to the frequent dry spells and so the revenue genelated
from crocodile egg collection is often relatively high and allows for luxuries such as
clothes, bedding, kitchen equipment and even carls or zebu in ce ain cases.
Although this is the general case, it sometim€s happens that the man of the family
(in the Southem region) is happy to spend his collection benefits himself outside
of the village for his own pleasure.
It is interestitrg to note that although the man played the main part in the
collection, women also participated and the benefits usually ended up within the
family unit.
b) No shuctural programme for the collection was set up by the people and it was
interesting to see if the local populations were actually able to set one up
themselves,
This was not the case at all but the success was linked to the importance of the
collectio! as well as the site in question.
The operatioll per se, however, was the same iu each locality.