Comment by andrewstuart
4 hours ago
People get killed by sharks in Australia regularly (two last week I think).
But I don’t think the public sees sharks as monsters to be destroyed.
Sharks are wild animals and we are in their habitat.
Sharks deserve protection even if they eat people.
People don't get killed regularly
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/yearly-world...
There are 4 confirmed fatalities in 2024 and 47 unprovoked bites.
> There are 4 confirmed fatalities in 2024 and 47 unprovoked bites.
To put that into perspective - there's about 4-5 fatal cow attacks in the UK alone a year.
https://cattlesafety.co.uk/facts-stats/when-cows-attack
I suspect there are also just a lot more interactions between humans and cows each year. Then again, we're responsible for a lot more cow fatalities as well, so if anything those cows are just fighting back.
Yeah, when you think about how many people are in the water they are incredibly rare. I grew up surfing and never thought much about sharks. I knew they were out there, but the drive to the beach was much more dangerous.
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So, one chomping a week.
Pretty regular.
Any average would seem regular. One chomping at a given interval.
But we don't know from the average anything about regularity. Maybe all 47 chomps were in the last few weeks, maybe not. One is regular the other is irregular.
/stupid nitpick
Agree. Though I read that shark attacks are increasing. Possibly due to changing water temperatures, or humans over-fishing their natural prey, leading them to look elsewhere.
I've read that they are down:
~ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-12/shark-attack-bite-rep...
Also, Great Whites were protected some time ago in Australia, 1996 if I recall correctly.
Fair chance there are more of them.