SYDNEY, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Animal rights advocates have condemned Australia's killing of five sharks in response to linked attacks which occurred in the nation's northeast Whitsundays last week.
Government authorities from the State of Queensland, where the attacks took place, have drawn criticism for using baited drum lines to catch and kill sharks after a 46-year-old woman and 12-year-old girl were severely bitten while swimming in the same harbour, less than 24 hours apart.
"First and foremost our hearts and minds are with the two victims, and we do acknowledge that the Queensland government do need to do something to reduce the already low frequency of shark human interactions," Humane Society International (HSI) marine campaigner Lawrence Chlebeck said.
"However, we do feel the way that they're going about them, the culling of the sharks is completely ineffective, cruel and misplaced."
HSI condones the use of non-lethal alternatives which focus on the monitoring of sharks, as well as raising public awareness, which Chlebeck says can be done to even greater effect by utilising current technologies.
"It can be done through radio alerts or drone surveys, the use of digital mechanisms like smart phones and things like that, because you're not going to be able to remove all the sharks from the water and pulling the five sharks out of the water and shooting them like they did really does not address the problem."
Despite public sentiment and media reaction, shark attack occurrences remain relatively low, as Chlebeck points out, and statistically swimmers have a far higher chance of drowning than being attacked by a predator.
"Of course any reference to the rarity will provide no solace to the people who have suffered, whether themselves or their families from these occurrences, though they do remain very rare," Chlebeck said.
"The alternatives that HSI suggests, will do a lot better job of making them even more rare than drumlines or shark culling will."
