Shark Water - The Truth will Surface

[syeve]

^^I guess that is where we differ. If I go into bear country and get eaten by a bear, I don't understand how that is the bear's fault...furthermore...If I go into the ocean, where I KNOW sharks reside, then guess what, I better be ready to face the APEX predator, that being a shark or any number of other species in the ocean that are much more evolved than humans.

Environmentalist propaganda? I don't subscribe to propaganda nor do I listen to erratic statements with the purpose of inciting fear...what I did see in that documentary was the needless killing of an animal. The sharks live for 2 days after being finned, if you're ok with the treatment of any animal in such a matter, then I digress, there is no point on further discussion.

[BlueAbyss]

If you're going to kill something, kill it. Don't make it suffer.

[Ron99]

I'm not quite sure where you are getting some figure of 20x the US rate of attacks? This seems to be your opinion rather than something backed up by any information or even best estimates by experts in the field. From a quick search it looks like estimates for unreported shark attacks might be about the same number as the reported ones so you are looking at around 100 attacks a year and maybe 10 deaths. Still not a large number.

Most (reported) attacks happen in the US and around Australia/New Zealand. These are areas that have alot more recreational water activities such as surfing than the third world so it is likely that your africans and asians are rarely mistaken as seals or turtles and mistakenly attacked.

So nobody is putting forth "false" statistics. We go by those statistics that are available. Your number is even more false because it is an arbitrary estimate you have made yourself based on some idea about populations of the US vs. the rest of the world but it ignores important factors such as the circumstances that may have contributed to the attack. There is no reason in your argument. It is all your personal opinion and ideas.

To address your last question, the answer is emphatically yes. The sharks or other animals are not cruising around thinking "Gee, I got to find me a juicy human to kill and eat". We are entering their environment and often engaging in activities that put us at risk for attacks. It's not a judgement call, it is just logical that everything that has an ecological niche is there for a reason and should be preserved for the overall balance of the environment. I would propose that humans are perhaps the ones who should be culled as it is our gross population explosion and unthinking destruction of the environment that is putting the entire planet and our own species at risk

To take your argument to a more extreme position, should we let people become Catholic priests when we know a small percentage of them will abuse little boys each year? Should we let any men walk free on the streets rather than just keeping us locked up for breeding purposes when we know that a small percentage of the will abuse and possibly kill small children? Should we let anybody drink alcohol when we know that some of them will drive and get into an accident that kills people (15,000 to 16,000 each year in the US)? Should we let anybody eat hamburgers because saturated fats will lead to heart disease that will kill more than half a million people in the US this year? Sure, these are more extreme examples but they are the same sort of argument you are trying to make.