in July and in September. Advisories warning people to maintain safe distances were issued, and signs were posted around the park, proclaiming the same.As an educator, one of the things I teach my students is to guard their “emotional buttons”. And as a reptile lover myself, I could feel my own buttons being pressed as this story developed.
On numerous occasions, I have encountered hikers and photographers bashing off trails in the nature reserves. In April, two hikers went missing in the forests of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, requiring rescue. Authorities in Norway euthanised Freya the walrus that had drawn crowds of spectators in the Oslo Fjord after concluding that it posed a risk to humans. which had to make this decision, has the thankless task of balancing biodiversity conservation and the general public’s safety.
Public transparency in data and in the decision-making process, is a critical stepping stone towards having a well-informed population that trusts its operating bodies. A step in this direction can improve the quality of public discourse by minimising well-meaning but uninformed opinions from proliferating.