Paekak man "whale harasser not whale rider"

[Grahameeboy]

The fact is, this kind of behaviour can cause a whale to beach itself if it gets distressed. This twat had no right standing on it and the bulk of his fine is for being within 50m of the animal. Tour boat operators have to abide by the rules, so what's different about Mr O'Dickhead-Donnell?

I hope they do charge him $30,000 (which is what the fine could be) for doing what he did. Pity the whale didn't belly flop on his sorry arse and drown him!

They don't have that many whales appearing along the Kapiti Coast, unlike Kaikoura, which is why there are no signs. Common sense - and a sense of self-preservation - should have been foremost in this idiot's mind yesterday.

I agree..this is caused assault in "Human" world...and do you need signs to tell you the obvious...

[PrincessBandit]

I agree..this is caused assault in "Human" world...and do you need signs to tell you the obvious...

Don't you mean "called assault"? I suppose it depends on the circumstances - a 3 year old standing on my back is hardly assault, but a 90kg human doing the same thing could be, I guess.

As for signs, well it's not like we have sharks or crocs which are likely to cause mortal harm from interaction with them. I'm sure that if the dude had seen a shark fin out in the surf he wouldn't have been going for a closer look. It was possibly one of those thoughtless things done on the spur of the moment by a person who thought it would be cool to get up close and personal with a creature you normally wouldn't be able to see. And if sharks normally patrolled that part of the coastline I'm sure there would be signs aplenty - even though most normal people know it's not a good idea to go swimming with sharks (I think their commonsense would probably tell them that).

[Grahameeboy]

Don't you mean "called assault"? I suppose it depends on the circumstances - a 3 year old standing on my back is hardly assault, but a 90kg human doing the same thing could be, I guess.

As for signs, well it's not like we have sharks or crocs which are likely to cause mortal harm from interaction with them. I'm sure that if the dude had seen a shark fin out in the surf he wouldn't have been going for a closer look. It was possibly one of those thoughtless things done on the spur of the moment by a person who thought it would be cool to get up close and personal with a creature you normally wouldn't be able to see. And if sharks normally patrolled that part of the coastline I'm sure there would be signs aplenty - even though most normal people know it's not a good idea to go swimming with sharks (I think their commonsense would probably tell them that).

Ooopsss....a few white sharks up here

[MIXONE]

Ooopsss....a few white sharks up here

Lawyers and car salesmen don't count...

[ynot slow]

The fact is, this kind of behaviour can cause a whale to beach itself if it gets distressed. This twat had no right standing on it and the bulk of his fine is for being within 50m of the animal. Tour boat operators have to abide by the rules, so what's different about Mr O'Dickhead-Donnell?

They don't have that many whales appearing along the Kapiti Coast, unlike Kaikoura, which is why there are no signs. Common sense - and a sense of self-preservation - should have been foremost in this idiot's mind yesterday.

Oh ffs,did anyone actually see him get on the back,if so my apologies,but I reitterate,the whale would only become distressed and head to land if it was injured already,and if it was injured a few would be around,would imagine the whale would be really pissed off if that was true,ever tried to get close to an injured animal to help it,especially wild ones.

[XRVrider]

Have you seen the size of the blow hole on an average Essex girl?

Who hasnt?