The right to bite

Political correctness rules our lives these days and while I’m all for equal opportunity, what about the right to bite and be bitten?

 No, I haven’t crossed over to the Twilight world of vampires, wooden stakes and werewolves, but where are equal rights when it comes to some of the wildlife which shares our great country?

Why is it considered acceptable for one or two species to regularly claim human lives, while another is hunted down and killed in retribution after what might be little more than a nip? If you are unlucky enough to be eaten or bitten by a creature of the sea, you are intruding in their territory, you knowingly took the risk and the chances are very high that the protected predator responsible will be allowed to swim off in search of its next feed with the taste of its new easy prey fresh in its innocent jaws.

Killer sharks seem to have a great team of spin doctors handling their defence. They mistook you for a seal, they did not really mean to bite you in half or rip your leg off, which must be a great consolation if you survived.

Crocodiles, another prehistoric killing machine,  also seem to lead charmed lives and are usually “relocated” if they become a nuisance, despite repeated calls for a cull  by the likes of Federal MPs Bob Katter (Kennedy) and Warren Entsch (Leichhardt). Just like sharks, they are responsible for all too frequent attacks, fatalities and near misses on humans. According to Outback Australia Travel Secrets, “Saltwater crocodile attacks do happenin Australia on a regular basis. (Most attacks are on pets and livestock, but unfortunately there also regular accidents involving humans, and about two per year are fatal.”)

https://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/crocodile-attacks.html

Don’t even get me started on venomous snakes, which like Great White sharks are fully protected despite obviously abundant numbers and frequent bites to humans and our pets. Some of us can probably recall the days when  an Eastern Brown or Red Bellied Black Snake in the garage or laundry could be despatched with a .22 slug between the eyes.

These days that would bring a huge fine and anyway, you’d have to be a bikie or a drug runner to have a gun within easy reach.

But then we have the other controversial bite situation; when a human is attacked even through negligence or stupidity by a dingo on Fraser Island (sorry, by a ‘wongari on k’gari’ according to recent headlines)  revenge is usually swift and permanent. Shoot the dingo and its mate, consider  another cull, place a cumbersome tracker around their necks … but aren’t we intruding on their territory too?

The answer is obviously yes and this lopsided set of values against Australia’s closest cousin to the wolf, befriended by indigenous tribes, has persisted for many years. Who gives a damn? Nobody much, apart from Facebook group, Save Fraser Island Dingoes Inc, whose stated mission is to conserve and protect the island’s dingoes.

Let’s take a step back and compare the risks. Yes, the dingoes have frequently been in the headlines recently, with the latest reported incident on August 26, when a woman walking alone was “nipped on the leg”.  She was taken to Happy Valley settlement to treat “scratches on her thigh,” rangers were urging tourists not to walk alone and to carry a stick for protection.

There have been some more serious attacks and the dingoes do appear to be growing bolder, but maybe that’s because they appear to be half starved, with backbones and rib cages protruding on scrawny frames. Possibly, that’s a result of the devastating bushfire that was allowed to rage for two months, destroying  87,000 ha of bushland and God-knows how much native wildlife before finally being brought under control in October 2021.