Precious Sharks

Sharks have been in the news again since the fatal attack of Lloyd Skinner off Fish Hoek beach (Cape Town). Attacks like this send fear through people and cause a sense of panic.

The truth is, shark attacks are rare. According to the International Shark Attack File (yes there is one)- there are less than 100 attacks per annum, from which 10-15 people die. This is worldwide. If you consider the millions of people swimming in  the oceans, the percentage is too low to calculate. In comparison, 1000 people die from croc attacks, 1500 from large cats and some 60 000 from snake bites per annum. Then we will not mention the car fatalities. But one shark attack causes so much panic.....

It is roughly estimated that humans kill 100 million sharks a year- now they should be a lot more petrified than us.

Because of this, selfish idiots are calling for shark nets to be placed at Cape Beaches. Why, so they can swim safely as they do in Natal. Gregg Oelofse, head of Environmental resource management at Cape Town City Council says that sharks nets will not be placed in the seas. The reason- would it be that sharks nets actually kill sharks and other sea life like whales and dolphins? Of course not. Why would somebody in his position care about the Environment and it's animals. The reason is because the coast is long and because of rough seas, the nets will be washed up onto the beach frequently-seriously! Great reason Gregg.

This idiot even goes on to say that killing sharks is a more effective option.....one has to ask how a selfish, short thinking gibbon like this actually heads any environmental department. Surely he should be tasked with protecting nature and not support killing it for human's pleasure. He should seek employment on a Japanese whale hunting ship the waste of earth space.

Maybe I am not getting the big picture here. To my mind, if God intended us to be sea creatures, we would have gills, or at the least, fins...but I have looked and I see neither on humans. So we are swimming in the shark's territory. And as much as we are out to get them, we, as a species are the savage ones. Sharks are not eating machines who will attack and eat anything they come accross. The are careful eaters who probably bite humans due to mistaken identity or when provoked.
Most attacks are one or two exploratory bites and the shark is gone as it realises we are not his prey. Bummer for us, is that the one or two bites may kill or maim us. However, we are in his ocean and being there, we should accept the risks. (Do we want to close down the car manufacturers due to road deaths)

Sharks have been around for 400 million years and they are a vital part of life in the oceans. In my view we do not have a right to kill them just because they stand in the way of us having fun in the ocean. How selfish are we as humans.....okay, I guess we are the most selfish creature around.
We have brought sharks to the brink of extinction- and that is no lie. As we have done with many other creatures. They have survived the changing planet for 400 million years and it is humans in our short existence, who will probably be the proud winners of the 'shark extinction cup.'

We need to wake up and realise, we have one planet. Once animals and fish are gone, they are gone. Once the planet is a barren wasteland, we are the losers. Will we wake up in time......??