First Shark Killed in Western Australia Cull
The Western Australian government killed its first shark over the weekend as part of a controversial culling program that has drawn an angry reaction from conservationists and activists.
A spokesman for the Western Australia (WA) government confirmed that a commercial fisherman had caught and shot a three-meter tiger shark one kilometer off Old Dunsborough in the South West region.
The government’s program of using hooked lines attached to floating drums to cull sharks in its waters follows a spate of fatal shark attacks in the waters off Australia’s largest state.
Seven people have been killed in shark attacks in WA over the past three years, the government said.
The scheme has been denounced by conservationists who say the sea predators should remain protected species.
The culling program went ahead after federal environment minister Greg Hunt granted WA an exemption under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act allowing the state to hunt down sharks.
The exemption allows it to hunt the protect great white shark, one of the world’s largest marine predators.
“To think this shark had been in the water for 12 hours, possibly with a big bleeding hook in its mouth suffering, is just ridiculous,” said Sea Shepherd spokeswoman Rae Threnoworth.
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Source: www.cnn.com
