Western Australia's (WA) response to shark attacks, i.e. culling sharks, is an example of moral panic. Moral panics are not a new concept in modern society; episodes of panic, anxiety, or alarm in the face of many forms of perceived threats are a part of society. Many studies have been conducted since Stanley Cohen first addressed the concept in 1972 with his book “Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers” – including that of Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda (Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance). A combination of these two studies results in what Brian Klocke and Glenn Muschert have defined as a “hybrid model” (Klocke and Muschert, 2010) for determining moral panics in a contemporary world; a situation where “the widespread concept of moral panic…over recent decades has obscured its conceptual coherence” (Krinsky, 2013). Perceived threats to the "moral fabric of society" (OED Online, 2014), moral panics (as agreed by most sociologists who have studied and explored the phenomenon) take place to a large extent in the media. Cohen not only emphasized the crucial role of the media in constructing moral panic, but he also established a five-part process for leading to moral panic:1. The behavior of folk devils is defined as a threat to the values ​​and interests of society.2. The threat is described in a dramatic form recognizable by the media.3. A rapid rise in public concern appears.4. Authorities, politicians and moral entrepreneurs are calling for a firm solution to the problem.5. Panic recedes or leads to social and institutional changes. (Krinsky, 2013) Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda then expanded on Cohen's concept of moral panic in their study by describing the basic characteristics of a moral panic: worry...... middle of paper .... ..ish Journal of Sociology, (1997): 629--648. Print.Krinsky, Charles. The Ashgate Research Companion to Moral Panics. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2013. Print. Mcrobbie, Angela and Sarah L Thornton. “Rethinking “moral panic” for multimedia social worlds.” British Journal of Sociology, (1995): 559--574. Print.Miller, Barbara. "The World Today - New Shark Attack Sparks Political Frenzy." March 2. 2009. Internet. April 15, 2014. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2504985Skelton, R 2013. Can governments protect people from killer sharks? [online] December 22. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-22/can-governments-protect-people-from-killer-sharks/5158880 [Accessed April 14, 2014] Sunstein, Cass R. " Overreaction to Frightening Risks Cass R. Sunstein and Richard Zeckhauser. Print.