rjung,
I am not Captain Kirk. Now God did give me a brain to go out and make money with and buy a gun that someone else made. Why do I have to make it myself? Tell ya what the shark and the gator can buy whatever they want to to try and kill me. 
Actually, I’ve always thought that hunting would be SOOO much more interesting if we gave all the bears steel-tipped claws and a jetpack… Maybe we could do the same for alligators? 
Maybe the Park ranger SHOULD arrest you now before you can kill or hurt an protected animal…
…but as mentioned, he certainly WILL if you go through on it. Somehow, being arrested and fined/jailed, for something easily avoidable and completely unneccessary, seems to be a pretty ineffective way to protect/provide for your family.
But maybe that’s just me.
They have to catch me first. And they are always to busy hassleling fishermen than worrying about alligators. But just to make you feel better I will use every bit of gator. My kids want new belts my wife wants a purse and I want gator penny loafers. There meat ain’t to bad either so I will eat to.
On a light note:
All this aligator and gun talk reminds me of a small humorous debate we had one day at work 2 years ago.
WE were on the subject of gun control and such, with the usuals giving their differing views. One co-worker chimed in towards the end of the debate and said this:
“Ya know, we could end this gun and crime problem real easy, just require everyone to carry around an 8’ aligator. Would you want to try to rob someone carying an 8’ aligator? nuff said”
Cite?
- ::: g, d & r ::: *
Looks like this is going to be a banner year, then. There have already been 41 shark attacks world-wide this year, 23 of which were in Florida.( http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wkmg/20010821/lo/889394_1.html ) I think it * does* boil down to survival of the fittest, though- what kind of genius does it take to be victim 23? It’s not as though you don’t hear about constantly on the news, and I’m sure it’s on their local news even more often than national news. If **I ** heard of 22 people being attacked by sharks in my state, I think I’d stick to lakes.
pldennison
Oh, for sure. And I doubt anything other than putting up big shark nets would do any good. Even then, we have dolphins surfing on some of those beach breaks from time to time, and if dolphins got caught in the nets then public protest would be enormous.
My point wasn’t so much concerning preventative action as reactive action. I think maneating sharks should be killed: I certainly don’t agree that the oceans shuld be scoured for sharks.
In respect of the comment on shark fins, I have had shark fin soup here in Hong Kong. My secretary tells me it is very good for one’s skin, because it is full of protein (which sounds a bit dubious to me). (More worrisome is the penchant for tiger penis, with its supposed sexual potency benefits. There is no truth to this at all, yet tiger penises and bits of tiger can be bought in some traditional HK medicine shops. Hong Kong’s desire for tiger penis is part of the reason why tigers are being decimated in the wild.)
Oh yeah, I almost forgot that the only people who are allowed to hold views on any political topic are those with family members who have been directly victimized. :rolleyes:
Since all of my family members have enough common sense to not swim in shark-infested waters, I’m not to worried about the above scenario.
Actually I do get worried about that scenario as my sister and my father swim from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island (some 25 km, off the coast of Perth) every year as part of a long distance swimming event.
But, that doesn’t justify a major culling of sharks in the area. Having a massive flotilla of boats, surf skis, and swimmers seems to deter sharks.
People who want to experience nature then complain about how dangerous nature is will never cease to amaze me. You invade certain of nature’s habitats and you become prey. If you build your house out in the country to get closer to nature, you’d better not bitch when beavers take down your ornamental cherry trees - you moved into THEIR habitat. Same thing with a bobcat taking down your SnookumWookums. You go swimming in the ocean? You moved into SHARK habitat. You swim in waters in gator country? You moved into GATOR habitat.
WB, I don’t know how to make this any plainer:
Mother Nature is not safe.
Never has been, never will be.
**
The question is a bit silly, because emotional involvement obviously clouds judgement. What would Captain Ahab have done without a grudge, eh?
I hope I never lose anyone to a shark or an alligator, but if I did I would want the death of that particular animal. Why? For two reasons: one, we don’t want this creature turning into a predator of humans after it realizes what easy prey they are; two, no matter how one rationalizes these things, I would want revenge on the killer of my loved one. Not the loftiest of emotions, but I believe reason one does justify killing an animal.
I’m surprised no one has pulled out this story yet–or maybe I missed it. This is a priceless article, variations of which appeared in a variety of media. I picked the ESPN write-up because it was the best I could find on short notice.
Tourists pat feeding-frenzied great whites
I like the Australian minister’s comment about being forced to protect people too stupid to protect themselves.
I’ve seen a guy jump into barracuda-infested waters and lay about him with a spear, and I’ve seen several idiots at zoos doing their best to pat Panda bears, but this is just the silliest thing I ever read. The people on that whale deserve first prize at the Darwin Awards (i.e., death).