Jaws for thought

'You're gonna need a bigger boat,' says a visibly alarmed marine biologist in the 1975 shark slasher, Jaws. In the film, a hunt for an enormous shark is underway after a string of grisly deaths, and the razor-toothed beast has just reared his head from the watery depths below.

Life mirrors art, it would appear. On Sunday, a three-metre female tiger shark was shot four times in the head, dragged out to sea and dumped by a fisherman, as part of a Western Australian government initiative.

The policy is in force after seven fatal attacks in three years. Government contractors have deployed baited drum lines one kilometre off the Perth coast, with the aim of luring the animals to hooks. They then become trapped and die, or are shot by roving hit squads.

Not everyone is happy with the controversial plans. The Western Australian premier, Colin Barnett, has been heckled at public events, and more than 4,000 protesters gathered on a beach earlier this month. In response, Mr Barnett said: 'I get no pleasure from seeing sharks killed, but I have an overriding responsibility to protect the people of Western Australia.'

Animal culls take place all over the world. The UK government announced in 2011 that it would permit controlled badger culls to protect farmers' livestock, and in Japan, whales and dolphins are routinely slaughtered as part of the national culture and for scientific research. Seal hunting has taken place in Canada for centuries, and also in Finland and Sweden, to protect fish stocks.

But animals are also killed or maimed in the pursuit of leisure. This week, a New Zealand manWhen 24-year-old junior doctor James Gaunt was attacked by a sevengill shark earlier this week, he used a first-aid kit to stitch his own wounds, before heading to the pub for a pint. 'put a few nicks' in a shark when it attacked him during a spearfishingThe act of hunting fish underwater while holding the breath, with the use of speargun or polespear. It is illegal in the non-tidal reaches of the UK. expedition. Earlier this month, a British teacher was injured on safari when an elephant tipped over her car; the elephant was later put down because safari officials could not understand its behaviour. And last year, it was discovered that animals died in the making of popular blockbuster epics Life of Pi and The Hobbit.

Many people believe that because animals are sentientAble to perceive or feel things., they have rights. Killing them is cruel and can threaten delicate ecosystems. A day after the Australian policy took effect, a shark had already been shot, proving our trigger-happy nature. Others argue that culling is ineffective anyway, and some Australian scuba divers say the shark attacks will now increase as bait will bring them closer to shore.

But supporters argue that culls are justified. Killing animals because they scare us or prevent our pursuit of leisure activities may be wrong, but not when they destroy livelihoods - or lives. We have a greater obligation to our fellow humans than to the animal kingdom. We already harm animals when we eat and wear them; it would be just as legitimate to kill them when they pose a threat.