Australia-Shark Hunt for killer shark splits Australians

It was Australia's third fatal shark attack this year and set off a controversial hunt for the great white that killed Ken Crew when the 48-year-old father was returning to shore after his regular early morning swim.

At a packed funeral service in a school near Cottesloe beach where Crew bled to death, his widow reiterated her support for the order to destroy the shark who took her husband. But Peter Benchley, author of the bestselling novel Jaws, echoed the views of many Australians when he spoke out against the hunt.

"This was not a rogue shark, tantalised by the taste of human flesh and bound to kill and kill again," Benchley said in a letter to Western Australia's largest daily paper.

"I plead with the people of Australia...to refrain from slaughtering this magnificent ocean predator in the hope of achieving some catharsis, some fleeting satisfaction, from wreaking vengeance on one of nature's most exquisite creations," Benchley wrote.

Great white sharks are protected in Australia but the Western Australian state government ruled that protection should not extend to Crew's killer. Since 1970 only 31 people have been killed by sharks in Australia compared with an average of 250 a year just crossing the road.

Shark expert John Paxton said "the risk from sharks is virtually nil - you've got a bigger chance of dying pulling out of your driveway to go to the beach".

(klei/dpa)