The Killing of Walrus Freya

[Manateeman]

Is “nuisance” sufficient an excuse to shoot a mammal who was native to this area long before people. To destroy something which delighted lots of citizens of Oslo and other towns. They did something wildly unpopular. No doubt it had a horrible
effect on children.
Can’t you just see the mistake here or do you wish to give away all your rights to a government who feels it need not consult you or care about the what it does to your children.
Killing is never the first answer to any problem.
Mark

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

Is “nuisance” sufficient an excuse to shoot a mammal who was native to this area long before people. To destroy something which delighted lots of citizens of Oslo and other towns. They did something wildly unpopular. No doubt it had a horrible
effect on children.
Can’t you just see the mistake here or do you wish to give away all your rights to a government who feels it need not consult you or care about the what it does to your children.
Killing is never the first answer to any problem.
Mark

You are barking up the wrong tree: The walrus was more than a nuisance, it was chasing kids in the water.
Nobody knew if it would bite, or not.
People didn't jump in to swim with the walrus, it just popped up in various part of the Oslo Fjord.
Norway had a heat wave this summer, everybody and his grand mother jumped in the water, whether harbors, fjords, lakes, rivers, whatever.
Freya was there and chased swimmers, not often but enough to scare the daylight out of kids trying to reach shore before Freya caught up with them.
Nobody knew if Freya would bite, or just wanted to play.
The Fish and Wildlife Department held off for a long time, they were not trigger happy and had no desire to kill Freya.
Everybody was hoping she would swim back North to Spitsbergen before anybody was injured or worse.
As the heatwave kept going, more people kept swimming and Freya got closer and closer to people including kids.
The Fish and Wildlife Director finally made a decision to kill Freya before anybody got injured.
Yeah, too bad for the tree huggers, but if you really want to protect animals, shut down the food factories and the slaughter houses in the US, those poor cows and pigs never chased any kids and was never a nuisance to anybody.

I read several Norwegian newspapers every day and have followed the Freya story from day 1.
Nobody wanted to kill the 600 kg cute blubber animal, but she kept getting closer and closer to people and somebody had to make a less than popular decision.

[Sailing55]

Originally Posted by fourlyons

Killing humanely is killing in a way that at least minimizes, or ideally causes no pain. There are a number of ways to do this.
An actually rational person recognizes two other reasons to kill humanely, self defense or the defense of others and the need to eat.
There, I answered the question. Your welcome.

As a rational person I'll help you out with something.
Killing humanely out of compassion is one thing, but the actual act of killing is in no way humane...
There, I put in in a way that might be easier for you to process. You're welcome.
By the way, you misspelled you're...

[Sailing55]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

You are barking up the wrong tree: The walrus was more than a nuisance, it was chasing kids in the water.
Nobody knew if it would bite, or not.
People didn't jump in to swim with the walrus, it just popped up in various part of the Oslo Fjord.
Norway had a heat wave this summer, everybody and his grand mother jumped in the water, whether harbors, fjords, lakes, rivers, whatever.
Freya was there and chased swimmers, not often but enough to scare the daylight out of kids trying to reach shore before Freya caught up with them.
Nobody knew if Freya would bite, or just wanted to play.
The Fish and Wildlife Department held off for a long time, they were not trigger happy and had no desire to kill Freya.
Everybody was hoping she would swim back North to Spitsbergen before anybody was injured or worse.
As the heatwave kept going, more people kept swimming and Freya got closer and closer to people including kids.
The Fish and Wildlife Director finally made a decision to kill Freya before anybody got injured.
Yeah, too bad for the tree huggers, but if you really want to protect animals, shut down the food factories and the slaughter houses in the US, those poor cows and pigs never chased any kids and was never a nuisance to anybody.

I read several Norwegian newspapers every day and have followed the Freya story from day 1.
Nobody wanted to kill the 600 kg cute blubber animal, but she kept getting closer and closer to people and somebody had to make a less than popular decision.

Would you mind posting some videos of Freya chasing children to shore? With all the people heading to the beach for relief from the heat there will surely be numerous videos of these terrifying events.
Oh, and the topic of this thread is the killer walrus hunting down children, not slaughter houses in the US.
Peace to you too...

[Manateeman]

Walruses are curious when young. Show me documentation of a walrus killing a human. Excluding walrus hunting (they are not stupid ) where someone is sticking them with a harpoon. The only one is the zoo in China where a tourist and a handler were killed. Interesting that like the orca in captivity in Florida, marine mammals can get tired of being in prison.
I’m really not impressed with news reporting as a source for science reports.
What about the woman who was subject to a walrus whistle?
Is that a good excuse to get out your gun.
No one knew if Freda would kill someone. Well that simply is not true. The marine mammal scientists knew walrus behavior.
The Government knew who to call. All they were looking for was somebody to tell them someone could get hurt. That’s all they needed. Go shoot her.
Save a lot of money. In a country floating on oil. What a laugh.
Expediency. Get the walrus off the front page. People might get interested in marine mammal stuff and next they will be asking questions.
Next, they will look at the decisions Government officials are making.
Can’t have that now, can we.
So let’s end the discussion. That walrus appeared to be attacking children. No chance is was just curious. No fault on the parents part. The kraken rises up from the deep like GODZILLA. Call out the army.
The manatee crew has seen this movie before.

[Mariefred]

"Is “nuisance” sufficient an excuse to shoot a mammal who was native to this area long before people."


Yes. Especially if using your definition of nuisance, which seems to be the potential of someone dying. But the bar will have been far lower than that (i.e. injury, property damage)



"Show me documentation of a walrus killing a human."

1. walrus hunting (they are not stupid ) where someone is sticking them with a harpoon
2. the zoo in China where a tourist and a handler were killed


Your own arguments doom the poor creature. It would seem that it was capable of killing someone if it misinterpreted that person's behaviour, or just by accident.

[Mike OReilly]

Managing the human side would be the best option, but it is exceedingly difficult, and politically/functionally/administratively complex and expensive.

Relocation is difficult and expensive, and involves significant risk to animal and the people involved.

The do-nothing approach is wise, but you can predict the firestorm of condemnation should an event occur.

The problem is us — the people. But once Freya became habituated to close human contact, officials have few choices, and none are easy or simple to make. I don’t know what the right solution was, but I’m sure the decision was not made lightly.

In the end, Freya was doomed the second people started treating her like a cute pet, and not the wild animal she was.

[boatman61]

Freya did nothing to be killed for...
However stupid ignorant people who are a total waste of oxygen got her slaughtered..
Anyone who defends her killing is as big a waste of space and oxygen as the morons gathered on the Quay attracting her attention.

[CSY Man]

Would you mind posting some videos of Freya chasing children to shore? With all the people heading to the beach for relief from the heat there will surely be numerous videos of these terrifying events[

I didn't save any of the videos, check you-tube.

Oh, and the topic of this thread is the killer walrus hunting down children, not slaughter houses in the US.
Peace to you too...

Didn't see anything in this thread about killer walrus hunting down children.

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Managing the human side would be the best option, but it is exceedingly difficult, and politically/functionally/administratively complex and expensive.

Relocation is difficult and expensive, and involves significant risk to animal and the people involved.

The do-nothing approach is wise, but you can predict the firestorm of condemnation should an event occur.

The problem is us — the people. But once Freya became habituated to close human contact, officials have few choices, and none are easy or simple to make. I don’t know what the right solution was, but I’m sure the decision was not made lightly.



In the end, Freya was doomed the second people started treating her like a cute pet, and not the wild animal she was.

No, the decision was not taken lightly.
I don't know what the right solution is either, sad story.

[Wotname]

All the pro and con arguments have been made several times over.
The last few pages are not boating / cruising related.
Closed pending mod review.