Last but not least: it's not going to work
The question is, who will die out first? The shark or the scary shark rhetoric of past decades? The Sonntagsblick does not exactly inspire confidence.
Countless organizations, marine biologists, researchers, conservationists and animal rights activists have been working tirelessly for many years to educate mankind about sharks before it is finally too late. The shark is not the hunter, but the hunted. It does not perceive human blood and does not confuse surfers with seals. It shies away from humans. It can (mistakenly) injure people, but it cannot eat them. Five to ten people worldwide die every year as a result of shark bites. 150 million sharks are slaughtered every year - 80 percent for the unspeakable Asian shark fin soup. It takes ten to 25 years for sharks to reach sexual maturity - depending on the species (Source). 200 of the approximately 500 known shark species are on the brink of extinction. The disappearance of sharks would have a catastrophic impact on the ocean ecosystem - for example through the unchecked reproduction of their prey and the associated decline in phytoplankton, which absorbs over 70 percent of the carbon dioxide produced in the world from the atmosphere and converts it into oxygen (Source).
Anyone reading the comment columns of corresponding reports has the feeling that the message is slowly getting through to the general public - at least in our part of the world. This raises the question of why the Sonntagsblick continues to refer to the animal as a "monster", a "nightmare for surfers and swimmers" or a "monster with deadly teeth". Image correction works differently.
Thomas Häusermann
