I drew this cartoon in response to calls for sharks to be culled after a spate of fatal shark attacks in australia in recent weeks. As a young man I was a keen scuba diver, people would often ask me whether I was afraid of shark attack, my response was to say that I was far more likely to die in a car accident on the way to the beach than from shark attack at the beach. Well over a thousand people die each year from car accidents wheres just a handful are killed by sharks. The rise in shark attacks is complex and still not fully understood, but one thing is certain is that it is not due to increased numbers of sharks as shark numbers worldwide have dropped dramically in the last thirty years due to overfishing. To me calls for shark culling (which is already going on in the form of shark nets near popular beach spots) is a simplistic kneejerk response to what is a complex issue.
CARTOON REFERENCE NUMBER: 2026-24