When wild animals kill humans a common reaction is to kill the animal to prevent further attacks and also in some cases to retrieve the victim's body.
Are these actions justified? Quite possibly, according to
a crocodile researcher commenting on the killing of a crocodile who killed a fisherman in the Adelaide River this week.
"The shooting of the popular albino-headed crocodile Michael Jackson was unfortunate but necessary"
"The 57-year-old fisherman was trying to free a snagged line when the 4.5-metre crocodile attacked him about 5.30pm on Monday. Police and rangers scouring the crocodile-infested river by boat that night shot and killed the crocodile and recovered the man's body. His wife witnessed the attack and was treated by paramedics at the scene for shock."
"They acted appropriately to shoot him but it's a real shame they had to do it," Adam Britton, a crocodile researcher at Charles Darwin University, said."
"He is a well-known, well-loved crocodile." He said albinism is "incredibly rare" in crocodiles"
Elsewhere in the media the crocodile is being described as
"a one-in-100-million rarity".
In a
similar story in NZ in 2013, armed police shot a shark that had killed a local surfer.
The victim had been "repeatedly dragged underwater by a massive shark, more than four metres in length, in full view of shocked fishermen and just a short distance from the beach, which was jammed with school children at the time."
"Witnesses said up to four other sharks also swept in...as blood spread through the water."
The rationale for shooting was so that the victim's body could be recovered.
Is this human reaction reasonable when other people may be at risk and killing the animal removes that risk?
Alternatively if animals are just acting upon their instincts in their own natural habitats, do humans have the right to kill them?
See
here for some interesting statistics on sharks and shark attacks.
Who is the real predator?
Image:
www.usim.in