To Cull Or Not To Cull

I try to avoid being too controversial here but this is something I feel strongly about so I hope you’ll bear with me this time.

When I mentioned in a recent blog post how the survival rate of baby bobtails is low due to predatory birds a commenter on this blog - hello, David - reminded me about the importance of predators in maintaining a healthy natural balance. He is quite right, too. All the evidence suggests that if you remove apex predators things start to go awry. Populations of some animals explode and that in turn has follow on effects right across the board. 

Western Australia, where I live, has a vast coastline and like most of Australia, the bulk of the population lives along that coastline, particularly in the south western corner - and we do love our beaches. They are pretty spectacular - miles of pure white sand and crystal clear water with many impressive surf breaks on the edge of the Indian Ocean. Surfing is popular - driving along the coast you'll see large numbers of folk out on their boards every day but so is swimming and for those of us who prefer not to use a surfboard, the waves are ideal for body surfing. There's good fishing, too, for any who like such activities, both from the beach and by boat. Add in long and very hot summers - we've already had several days over 40°C in Perth this summer and inland it's been much hotter - and as you can imagine the beaches and the ocean get a lot of use.

But with all this watery living there is a problem. Oceans have fish and a large fish population brings with it predators. Dolphins preying on fish frequent harbours, bays, estuaries and lower reaches of some rivers, and hunt along the coast and sea lions are found on many of the off shore islands. Further out to sea in some areas there are much larger predators in the form of orca pods. We accept these without question acknowledging that they need to eat and largely interactions with them are positive. Mind you I for one wouldn't want to risk taking a dip if a pod of orcas happened to be nearby. Beautiful they might be but they are fearsome hunters and might mistake me for something more to their taste.

I haven't mentioned sharks yet, have I, but obviously they're here. They don't have the same warm acceptance as the other predators partly because they do on occasion come into contact with us - and when that happens the outcome is rarely good. In Western Australian shark attacks are mainly by great white (Carcharodon carcharias) and tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) sharks in the ocean and bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) in rivers and estuaries. I get that these are fearsome creatures and being attacked by a shark if not fatal almost invariably leads to terrible injuries and I wouldn't wish a shark attack on anyone. 

That said, while horrific and shocking, they are relatively rare - in the last thirty years there have been 21 fatalities - which means while there are always going to be sharks out in the ocean your chances of being attacked by one are pretty slim if you’re a swimmer. Board riders are at more risk and there's some evidence that sharks confuse people wearing black wet suits for seals or sea lions, and take an exploratory bite before realising their error. As the majority of fatalities have been surfers and were not devoured it makes me suspect this may well be the case. 

My problem is that whenever there's a shark attack there is an immediate public outcry and demands for a cull including nonsensical talk of "rogue" sharks as if they are deliberately seeking out people and if we cull them the problem will go away. There are a number of things wrong with this approach in my opinion.

1. For a start how do we know the shark we cull is the one that attacked? Obviously we don't and we risk taking out sharks that never have and never will attack a person.

2. Sharks are long lived creatures and if we remove a number of mature breeding females we could completely disrupt the balance of the natural ecosystem because older sharks are not being replaced.

3. We know that when an apex predator is removed from an ecosystem on land the effects are huge. Why can't we grasp that the same will happen in the ocean?

4. When you remove one large predator the likelihood is that another will quickly move in to take its place.

Obviously there is a problem but as you can guess I don't see culling as the answer. 

So how do we deal with the problem? Well, first off we need to accept that the ocean is the shark's natural habitat and not ours. We are land creatures and while we may like to swim and surf by doing that we are entering an alien environment, one where there are dangers. As well as choosing sensible times to go in the water - like avoiding dusk and dawn and dull cloudy days - we can mitigate the dangers by netting swimming beaches. Unfortunately it's expensive and experience shows such enclosures can cause creatures other than sharks to get trapped in the netting. There's been some experimentation with shark deterrent lines at beaches recently, too, which are still unproven but look hopeful. We can patrol the most popular beaches and warn swimmers and surfers to leave the water when a shark is sighted. This is very effective at swimming beaches and has been in place here for many years. It's now being augmented by helicopter flights along the metropolitan coast line. Finally we can ensure that whale carcasses and anything similar attractive to sharks are removed from the vicinity of beaches as a matter of urgency, closing beaches where necessary. 

All of this will help but the truth is if we choose to swim or surf - particularly at times or places where sharks are likely to be - we have to accept there is always a risk. I write this as someone who grew up swimming and body surfing daily in the summer and who was taught from an early age to be aware of my surroundings and to be mindful of the potential dangers. By taking reasonable precautions we can be fairly safe but there can never be a guarantee, something we had drummed into us early on. I can't begin to imagine the horror victims go through and their families' suffering. It's something I hope would never happen to anyone ever but if we choose to enter the water we put ourselves into a place where a different set of rules apply and we have to accept that.

Sorry, People, But We're Living In A Pandemic

I'm lucky enough to be living in what is probably one of the safest places (in terms of COVID 19) in the world at the moment. We had a relatively brief lockdown in February and March which was gradually lifted although we have maintained strict controls over who can and cannot enter the state. In total as of today there have only been 854 cases here - all from incoming people (travellers, returning residents and crews of ships) and of those there have been 9 deaths. There have been no infections in the community at large. 

What has given us this safety is our hard border policy and it is supported strongly here. This has meant that apart from essential supplies coming in from outside and strict quarantine measures for those who are granted entry - you can get exemptions for a variety of reasons but then have to self isolate or go into quarantine - for months now we've pretty much been living our lives as usual. A system of contact tracing has been put in place for anywhere that large groups meet up and we can travel freely in most of the state.  This has not been universally popular in other parts of the country, many of which have been vocal in their complaints and regularly demand we open our borders. One newspaper has even accused us of threatening national unity. Those who live here, on the other hand, have seen what happens when things are not so tightly policed and are well aware of how lucky we are so are none too keen on risking what has happened in other places happening here. 

That said there is as always a small proportion of those folk who think their wants should come ahead of the safety of the whole community. Every day there are complainers - we call them whingers here - who want the rules to be relaxed and I get it. We're social creatures and we want to go back to a world where you could jump on a plane and visit family interstate or in another country, one where you don't have to sign in when you take your child to swimming class or at a restaurant, where you can go where you want when you want. The trouble is life has been turned upside down worldwide and that way of life no longer exists. 

This is not important to the whingers, though. Every day on talk back radio, on social media, in letters to the newspaper there are people complaining that they can't do what they want when they want and it's not fair. In the past few days I've heard complaints ranging from how unfair it is to not let someone from another state bring their one year old here to visit his grandparents - it's his first Christmas, how can they be deprived of this - to how inconvenient it is to have to fill out your contact details at a public venue and that's before we even consider the idiots who breach self isolation or quarantine or try to avoid quarantine altogether. They are being robbed of these moments by a mean spirited government which should let them do what they want because they want it whether it's meeting with family or going to a nightclub when they should be in quarantine. Community safety means nothing to them. 

Well, the world doesn't work that way. Even in normal times we can't always do exactly what we want and people miss out on moments like a grandchild's first Christmas all the time. People get ill or have accidents and end up in hospital instead of at a family lunch. It happens. I've missed enough Christmases with family due to health problems to know the day is not what matters. You miss that particular moment but you catch up later and it's all the sweeter for it. Let's try to understand that and realise that a small sacrifice of a looked forward to pleasure for the common good is not the end of the world. Truth be told in this world of the internet you can get to see pretty much everything via video anyway and while it's certainly not the same as having physical contact it's a great deal better than nothing.

Bobtail

 This handsome fellow is one of the bobtails I mentioned a few days ago that live in our garden. This particular one has been turning up in all sorts of unexpected spots lately. Yesterday evening as I was watering the plant pots he - I think his slightly swollen tail makes him male although it is notoriously hard to tell the difference - suddenly appeared from between two pots where he had presumably settled for the night. He was somewhat irritated at the accidental spray he'd received. He's also been a great source of kitty TV as Mr Puss fixates on him as he wanders past various doors. His mate hasn't been about as much so far this year and has very different colouring being more grey than brown. They mate for life and the female usually gives birth to two babies in spring. Sadly survival rate for the young is not great as they are preyed on by many birds. Also sadly many are killed crossing roads. Since they eat snails among other things  - and my strawberries which they consider a delicacy are safely in hanging baskets - they are very welcome here.

How Times Have Changed

The first time I remember going to a hospital was, I guess, when I was six or seven (I’m not going to tell you how long ago that was) and I was taken to see my grandfather. The ward was huge - in my memory it stretched forever - with men in beds lined up in rows against the walls and there were even more beds out on an enclosed veranda. It was all very regimented with nurses in crisp white uniforms bustling around, their starched veils fascinating me. This was the major public hospital here at the time and while a new modern extension had been added some years before, much of the hospital was still old style and as it had been back in the 1920s when it was first built. My grandfather had worked on the extension as a bricklayer but unfortunately whatever ailed him - and I have no idea what that was - didn't give him a bed in the new part although I'm sure it didn't affect his treatment which would have been to the standard of the time. The overpowering smell of carbolic disinfectant is still clear in my mind.

A year or so later I was taken to visit my father who had had surgery. This was at a private hospital and my overwhelming memory is of a big dark room with eight beds that smelled of disinfectant and cigars - one of the patients was a smoker who went out on to a tiny balcony for a smoke. As well as some of the wartime Japanese currency that had been printed for those countries they had invaded, he gave me several wooden cigar boxes so he must have smoked quite a bit while in hospital. The currency disappeared long ago and why he had it with him in hospital I have no idea. The whole place was depressing in the extreme with nurses frowning at any noise. 

My recent hospital experience couldn't have been more different. I had a minor medical procedure as day surgery and pretty much the worst bit (apart from having to have a general anaesthetic) was having to get through the morning rush hour traffic. The hospital is a private one and the Day Unit consisted of bright four bed wards with each bed curtained and having a lockable closet for your clothing and other items. Cheerful nurses in blue scrubs were there to help at the press of a buzzer and once my procedure was done and I was back in the ward there were cups of coffee and sandwiches and nurses coming in to check on me every few minutes until Pisces came to pick me up. Everything was modern and attractive with not a hint of disinfectant. Not, you understand, that these conditions made me want to stay any longer but they certainly made it more pleasant. 

We've certainly come a long way, haven't we.