I'm watching Shark Week videos, one after another ...not a very good thing to do, seeing that I'll be making a visit to the ocean very soon.
On one episode, they interview a scientist who had been working with sharks for 20 years ... a big know-it-all-expert ... he was probably the only human being to get as close to sharks deliberately, in order to study them. In all his years of research and speaking on behalf of sharks ("they don't want to hurt humans ...they think humans are seals; fish, etc,) he forgot to respect them. There he was, standing a mere 3 ft from shore alongside a gutsy journalist, doing an interview in the midst of roving bull sharks. He was telling the daring reporter how "safe" sharks really are, and here was the proof. In that instant, a bull shark nips him in the shin, taking his calf muscle totally off. You can tell that throughout this documentary, the guy seems a bit embarrassed.... but I would say he was humiliated by that shark. All his years of research and his understanding of sharks was just another "theory" to be accepted as "fact." I mean, how dare we ever accuse the sharks of wanting to eat humans ...that would make them out to be ...well... wild animals who eat people! I could never understand this overblown sentiment, that admitting that sharks are man-hunting-man-eaters for fear of demonizing them ...so don't you dare say any such thing about them! Yet, it seems the majority of scientists don't have much of a problem demonizing the human population: we're the ones who are hurting the poor sharks, we're the ones encroaching on their environment, we're the ones to blame if one decides to have us as a snack... shame on the humans!
I'm not a scientist with years of research or expertise on sharks. But after watching just a few hours of this documentary, I've come to the conclusive facts that: Sharks hunt people. Sharks will attack a human because the shark wants to eat the human. The shark didn't "think" the human was a duck. It didn't "think" the human was a seal, a bird, a fish. As is evident in the film footage... the bull shark saw the man standing in the water, and decided to take a bite. The man wasn't even moving. Sharks like to taste and eat people. On the food chain, if you're swimming in the ocean, watch out, because "human-being" is not on top of the food pyramid! Case closed.
