Sunday, July 12, 2015

Be Crocwise!

Source.

Watch - English version here.



Great stuff, and I cite.
The video's illustrator and creator Michael Roseth said the part where the crocodile bit off and swallowed the head of a nearby person had people talking.

"That's the bit that everybody remembers and laughs at and talks about," Mr Roseth said.

"I discussed it with Parks and Wildlife and they were into it because crocodiles do eat people, including their heads, so they didn't want to shy away from that and it kind of works in both ways.
Indeed, they sometimes do eat people.
The Saltwater Croc is one of the few animals that appears to  consider humans as prey, and will actively stalk and attack them - and guess what, despite of the fact that a lot of people rightfully fear them, they are nevertheless fully protected throughout their Australian range!

Sharks are of course nothing like that.
The vast majority of the 500+ species would never dream of taking on a human, and even the few infamous large predatory species are certainly not active man hunters. But by the same token, it is equally certain that there have been some rare strikes that were both intentional and predatory in nature - and like I never cease to state, that's perfectly normal and neither good or bad!

So, please, let those Sharks be Sharks!
Like in the case of those Aussie Saltwater Crocs, let us depict them as what they are: not monsters but not puppy dogs either, and worthy of our respect and also, of our protection - and yes I'm very much repeating myself!
Or, and I cite from this excellent article,
as Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1952 to a literary critic regarding "The Old Man and the Sea," a story that was rife with sharks and the imagery of savage beasts: 
 "There isn't any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse." 
Fascinating and scary indeed!
 
And this?
Read this old post, and also look at the evidence!
It just so happens that the country that has spawned Jaws and has most endured all that fear mongering on Shark Week is the very country that has enacted arguably the world's best Shark conservation and management  measures! And none of the global Shark conservation and management measures has been enacted democratically but instead, they have been the result of the right people talking to the right people at the right time - and by the same token, no Shark conservation measure has ever been turned down because somebody stated that they were afraid of Sharks, let alone because of the negative portrayal of Sharks in the media!

Anyway.
Just digressing as always - or maybe not so much!
Enjoy the video!

1 comment:

jsd said...

I was working in the Northern Territory mangroves a while back and really scared of those huge 'salty' crocs. Meanwhile, the locals were often laid back about them. You'd find some Oz fisherman standing in waist-deep water happily fishing (next to a crocodile-warning sign). He'd just say no one had ever been taken by a croc around there.