The skin of the New Guinea crocodile is valuable and in the 1950s and 1960s the animals in the northern population were heavily hunted to a point where they might have become extinct.
A pel do crocodilo de Nova Guinea é valiosa e nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 os animais da poboación do norte foron intensamente cazados ata o punto de que estiveron a piques de extinguirse.