Celebrated Australian author Tim Winton led the chorus of outrage after a fossilised tooth from an ancient giant shark was ripped out and stolen from a national park.
The megalodon tooth was recovered from Cape Range National Park, about 1,300 kilometres north of Perth on Western Australia’s World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Coast, earlier this month.
Winton, 64, said the news, which was confirmed by state government officials who said the attacker likely used a “cutting tool,” was disappointing but unfortunately not surprising.
“People are digging up fossil teeth, you know, going into caves they know they shouldn’t go into, camping wherever they want, taking their troops wherever they want,” he said. The alphabet.
I have collected enough human waste in Ningaloo over the past few years to know that this is not an imaginary problem.
“I don’t know if it’s just the Insta-bogans but… they bring everything to Ningaloo except their good sense and manners.”
Winton, who is local to the area and has featured the site in several of his written works, recently presented the ABC documentary series Ningaloo Nyinggulu, which featured a cave that has now been closed to the public due to damage caused by illegal trespassers.
It is not the first time that a similar fossil has been extracted from the park, with a Specimen removed from a secret site in 2018 and never recovered.
Celebrated Australian author Tim Winton has led a chorus of outrage over the removal of a fossilised tooth of a giant prehistoric predator from a national park.
The megalodon was a prehistoric shark that reached 18 meters in length and could weigh up to 50 tons.
Caver Darren Brooks told ABC Megalodon teeth could sometimes fetch thousands of dollars, but were usually worth much less and could easily be purchased online.
He said taking them out of context devalued them scientifically because most of what researchers learned came from where the teeth were deposited.
Mr Brooks also reported vandalism he was seeing in the park, including people spraying graffiti on trees.
Winton said that “Instagram” tourists were a big threat to the park because They believe that they are better than others and that the rules do not apply to them.
Western Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions told the ABC it has stepped up efforts to protect Cape Range National Park and is conducting more regular patrols and communicating with the public.
Washington state government officials said the giant tooth was removed from Cape Range National Park earlier this month.
Winton said the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Coast was being vandalised by “Instagram tourists” and he had been forced to pick up their “human waste”.
Winton is an acclaimed author of novels, children’s books and nonfiction, and a leading conservation advocate.
In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia and has won the Miles Franklin Award four times.
Some of his best-known works include Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music, The Turning and Breath, while several of his works have been adapted for television and film.