Mandurah residents have taken to social media to express their anger at an act of vandalism on a Beach Emergency Number (BEN) sign.
The BEN signs were developed following the fatal shark attack off Falcon in 2016 that claimed the life of Ben Gerring.
Mr Gerring’s brother Rick proposed the idea after concerns about possible delays in attending emergency services trying to locate the closest beach access point to the incident.
Local Craig Waterman came across the defaced sign while visiting 4WD beach Tims Thicket, south of Mandurah.
Disgusted by the offence Mr Waterman posted a photo of the signage on a Mandurah community Facebook page.
He said in the post, that apart from the obvious graffiti there was also visible bullet holes.
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The post has attracted significant attention and a number of horrified reactions from locals.
One Facebook user, labelled the act as “really pitiful and pathetic”.
“Makes you wonder... Once they’ve done this, do they look back on it with a sense of pride and achievement?” he said.
Another commenter agreed and said the signs played an important role in beach safety.
“It’s really sad that people do this to sighns for the beach for safety,” she said.
