Don't kill shark: victim's dad
09:45 AEDT Sat Dec 18 2004
The father of a surfer killed by a great white shark off an Adelaide beach does not want it destroyed, saying the ocean is the animal's domain.
As authorities ordered the 5m long shark to be found and destroyed, Philip Peterson, the father of 18-year-old victim Nick Peterson, said his son admired and respected sharks.
Nick Peterson was killed instantly when he was attacked by the shark as he was towed behind a boat on a surfboard just 300 metres off Adelaide's popular metropolitan West Beach on Thursday.
"It came up from nowhere - he didn't see it for a second before it happened," Adam Floreani, one of three 16-year-old friends in the boat who watched the horrific attack, told Channel Seven.
The friends said Mr Peterson had fought for his life, hitting the shark as it took him away.
"He went down fighting - he didn't give up," said Mr Floreani.
Police initially believed they had found some of Mr Peterson's remains on Friday but tests later showed they were not human tissue.
Philip Peterson on Friday visited West Beach with his wife Leonie to see where their son died.
He said the decision to destroy the shark was "out of my hands".
"We acknowledge that the sea is, in fact, the shark's domain.
"We don't, and I certainly personally don't, advocate the indiscriminate killing of any shark. They are to be admired, appreciated and respected, and Nick knew that."
Great whites are a protected species, but a meeting on Friday of government, police, fisheries and coast guard officials ordered the killer shark be found and destroyed.
"Any shark posing a threat or risk to human life ... should be destroyed, that is unequivocal," acting SA Premier Kevin Foley said.
He defended inaction over a sighting last week of a shark, believed to be the one involved in Thursday's killing, at an adjoining beach to West Beach.
"Should action have been taken earlier? Every summer we are confronted with that dilemma," Mr Foley said.
This really shits me. I say you forfit your place at the top of the food chain, the moment you get into the water. Peterson knew that, his parents said. It's just fucked up that not everyone can accept that.
Some Fucktard wrote:Any shark posing a threat or risk to human life ... should be destroyed, that is unequivocal," acting SA Premier Kevin Foley said.
this is what makes me want to kill every single human on earth. We are not the focus of the earth, we should not clear out everything that can harm us. We are to adapt, but not by killing anything that gets in our way. I hate people that think "Boy, that shark could hurt someone else, maybe we should kill it instead of staying out of its habitat and being careful."
JSACK wrote:alright well me and obara'bars, shredded our dicks off, since we are both in high school, obviously there is some sort of talent show
yeah there has been a pretty big outcry about this I think. I would say it is more than possible that the premier will change his mind - I think there is an election next year in SA and he was probably trying to go with what he thought would be the most popular option - I think the fact that the kids father has opposed Foley has turned the tide towards saving the shark.
Although it is the second person to be killed by a shark in Australia in the last month - so there are definitly a few people a little afraid about it.
Maybe this is a stupid question, but how in the world are fisherman and police supposed to know if the shark they kill is the shark that attacked the swimmer, I mean I assume there are quite a few great whites that are 5 m long if like Jeremy says there have been 2 people killed in the last month by sharks in Australia...
I don't think that's the case at all. One person was killed in Northern Queensland and the other in South Australia - that's about 2000 km difference and there is a continent in the way.
crazydwarf wrote:Maybe this is a stupid question, but how in the world are fisherman and police supposed to know if the shark they kill is the shark that attacked the swimmer?
not a stupid question at all, its the heart of the debate going on here at the moment. It definitely makes no sense to go in and randomly kill sharks until people somehow 'feel better'. Great White sharks are also a rare and protected species. Unfortunately for humans the world is an unpredictable place and sometimes terrible things can happen like this but they are inevitable... when you are occupying the same habitat as large, powerful and sometimes aggressive predators, then you are taking the risk that you may come into contact with them.
are great whites actually endangered? if they are, i think thats one more pretty good reason to not kill one more, especially since it would be hard to track down the same one that did this, as several other people pointed out already.
Great white sharks (actually most sharks in general, I do believe) have a very slow reproductive cycle and takes a long time for them to reach sexual maturity, which means that even a few sharks killed can have a large influence on the future population of their species.
qphox wrote:But at least it will teach the sharks of the world a lesson.
Exactly. The evil sharks are terrorising the innocent women and children of our free democracy loving country and are trying to destroy our way of life because it is against their religion. We should bomb them and then lock them up and torture them to show what a great and compassionate nation we are...
Afterall why should we treat sharks any better than the way we treat people?
edit: I bet it was a shark that took care of Harold Holt too (former Australian Prime Minister who disapeared one day while swimming - his body was never found - there is a swimming pool named after him)
