I’m an avid canoeist in Everglades National Park and read with interest Mark Osman’s Dec. 1 letter, Hysteria over crocs. I have paddled by more than my share of large American alligators and enormous American crocodiles without much concern.

This wouldn’t be the case with a full-grown Nile crocodile, which targets large animals such as wildebeest, zebras, and antelope. These crocodiles also kill and eat people with regularity in African countries.

If it takes shooting a Nile crocodile to ensure that it doesn’t make it into Everglades National Park, then so be it. Like piranhas, Nile crocodiles should be banned from private ownership in Florida.

It’s interesting that when citrus canker shows up or a beetle is threatening the avocado industry, state biologists show up in overwhelming force to eradicate them. Now there’s a young Nile crocodile swimming free in a residential canal that leads to Everglades National Park, and there have been relatively few attempts to locate it.

Any canoeist or kayaker should be more than a little concerned about this.

Roger Hammer, Homestead