What you said: Should we cull wild animals that are a threat?

Recent tragedies, including multiple fatal shark attacks and dingo bites, have reignited the debate on whether animals who are a threat to humans should be culled. WHAT YOU SAID

Should sharks be culled if they attack humans? PIC: SUPPLIED - GENERIC.

Recent tragedies, including the shark attacks that claimed the lives of Charlize Zmuda and Luke Walford, have reignited the debate on whether animals who are a threat to humans should be culled.

Madonna King, writing for The Sunday Mail, said it was common sense to cull in such instances.

“Why are we even debating the priority of a human life, over that of an animal - a shark, a crocodile, a dingo, or even a snake,” Ms King wrote.

“An almighty difference exists between sanctioning the willy-nilly killing of animals important to our ecology, and sensible rational policies that safeguard and signal the value of human lives.”

Though not everyone is of the same opinion. Here’s what you said about the issue.

LEAVE THEM BE

Nanette

We are but guests in the ocean. There is always a risk of shark attacks, they eat to survive! What do you want to do to cull them all every time there is an attack? What about humans who commit murder on innocents? Humans are supposed to know killing is wrong; maybe we should cull a few of them.

Rebecca

It’s like living in Africa—lions, hippos, sharks, etc., are part of the fabric. If you want to live or visit somewhere without wild animals, choose a concrete jungle—only then might you find human predators.

Linda

If left alone, the dingo population would self-regulate—without food, they die. Tourists pay big money to go on safari in Africa to see wild lions from the safety of an enclosed vehicle. No one has mentioned culling all the lions so people can walk across the savannah, similar to polar bears. If you do not want to risk a dingo or shark attack, don’t enter their domain.

Larissa

What is more important, I guess? Your family members or them? There is no need to get rid of them all, but potentially reducing their number like we used to may be a solution. Shark and crocodile numbers are getting high. Dingos on Fraser Island are a man-made issue. They are not wild animals.

Ted

The dingoes just need to be relocated. The ‘power that is’ took away their food source—brumbies—and now there is no food! It is a simple solution—dingoes are NOT native to Fraser Island.

Marc

What is the logic behind this argument, Madonna? Is it fear? Or is it revenge - against an individual animal that has attacked a human or against all members of all species that are capable of attacking a human? I can understand killing a particular animal if it has actually demonstrated behaviour attacking or threatening to attack a human. Sure, human life then prevails. [And I have no problem killing animals as food or protecting the environment, etc.] However, surely we need better motivation than just fear or revenge before we justify a mass killing spree by a cull.

CULL THEM

Philip

Cull them. This fantasy that they are ‘crucial to ecological balance’ is ridiculous. Fraser Island (because no one asked us permission to change its name) would be no worse off ecologically if all dingoes were removed. It would be better.

Martin

The dingoes on Kgari need to be culled. They are feral animals that arrived in Australia around 3000 years ago and eliminated the thylacine shortly afterwards. Aggressive animals must be controlled or culled when they enter our domain. We are part of the environment as well. We did not arrive from a different planet. We evolved on this one by managing our environment. Sometimes, we go overboard, but largely, we have evolved responsibly and managed threats to our existence when they have arisen.

Realistic

Yes. The dingo population in Fraser has gone too high, as has the population of crocodiles and sharks.

Why do we keep giving in to those who think animals have priority over human safety? They have grown to such a number that they are a danger to public safety!

Andrew

Crocodiles should be culled in certain areas. Their numbers and size are influenced by the easy and abundant availability of food. Their diet now includes cattle and pigs instead of fish, birds, turtles, etc. Culling needs to happen and will happen.

Originally published as What you said: Should we cull wild animals that are a threat?