“So Sad to Shoot It”: Crocodile Is Put to Rest After ‘Stalking’ Incidents Came to Light

A crocodile (that was four meters in length) was shot dead in Mackay, Australia. The huge creature was found stalking and chasing surfers and local fishermen almost regularly. To get rid of any impending possibility of fatality, the officer in charge decided to take a painful step to shoot the croc dead. People expressed discontent when a Facebook page posted the news. The majority felt that authorities could have adopted a humane way to tackle the situation.

As per reports, the crocodile “aggressively” followed a man who was surfing at North Wall Beach. After the man lodged a complaint, the police took the grave step and literally put an end to it to save lives. While this is an unfortunate turn of events, let’s see how the events unfolded.

The reason behind the euthanasia

Recently the 9 News posted the updates on their Facebook page and captioned it with, “A huge, four-metre crocodile in Mackay has been shot dead after it was caught aggressively stalking people at a popular beach…”

Wildlife Officer Jane Burns reported, “Wildlife officers assessed the animal as posing an unacceptable danger to the community and made the decision to humanely euthanise the crocodile on the spot”. He also added, “Mackay is croc country, and people are urged not to be complacent with their own safety or the safety of their family or their pets when they are in or near the water.” However, the News 9 podcast attracted a fair bit of social media attention about the authority’s questionable handling of the matter.

People questioned the authority’s methods

Though the authority tried to make a strong point for their action, the fans begged to differ. Some tried to reason themselves by stating the obvious. This user said, “it was behaving like a crocodile? Then lets shoot it!” Sharing their dissatisfaction, others also chimed in,

“So sad to shoot it – no need for that”

“headline should actually be, ‘Croc shot dead because it existed’.”

“So you’re telling me it didn’t hurt anyone and got shot… wow”

“We need to relocate them in heaven”

While some took the idea of killing it as a condemnable practice, others shared concerns about the increasing local population of the reptile species. Many suggested that relocating these creatures where it is habitable for them could have been the ideal way to go. Some followers penned,

“Won’t be long before they are in plague proportions on the sunny and Gold Coast”

“It could of been captured and released elsewhere there is no need to have shot it dead”

“how are all these losers putting the life of a croc over humans”

“Why not just relocate the animal simple after all it’s just doing what crocs do.”

Read More – “Bitten Several Times in the Leg as Well as the Head”: A Crocodile Attack Led American Surfer’s Calf Muscle Stripped in 2016

Though the officers thought it was a necessary step, netizens didn’t buy it and hoped that something else could be done. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

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