Diver Kills Aggressive Tiger Shark

Photograph by D.J. Struntz

Along with an article titled "Shark Video Triggers Some Backlash"
at: http://news.aol.com/article/shark-video-triggers-some-backlash/381492
the attached AOL survey asks "Do you think the killing of the shark was justified?"

According to the responses when I responded, the responses were: Probably 49%, Probably not 42%, and Not sure 9%.

In Soap Box Ravings opinion those who responded "probably not" and "not sure" would be most likely to raise chimpanzees in their homes.

Aggressive animals, whether on land, in the air or the ocean only respond to a force large enough to deter them as many people continue to find much to their surprise and sometimes detriment, every year.

When you are confronted by an aggressive animal if you are not prepared, you are almost instantly out of options.

A couple of years ago while on an Alaskan cruise, we went on a Alaskan Brown Bear sightseeing trip. There were roughly 30, mostly older people, walking through the forest with three native Inuit guides. The last man of which carried a Ruger .338 Winchester Magnum rifle. Since he was a retired Marine and I am retired Navy we chatted. The excursion was to see one or more Alaskan Brown Bears. The rifle was in case we did see one or more Alaskan Brown Bears.

I truly believed our Inuit guide when he said it would bother him to shoot a bear, but I also knew he would kill the bear should the bear endanger a member of the excursion we were on.