An email sent to Sharkman: (couldn’t have said it better myself!)
I am in Ft. Lauderdale where I vacation once a year and am always wary about sharks. Call me crazy, but I don’t trust them. Like you, I have never believed all the crap that these defense attorneys for sharks spew out in the wake of a grisly shark attack.
Regardless of how badly the shark mauls the victim there is always an ‘excuse’ which seems to put the blame on the human victim: “Mistaken identity, the shark felt that his privacy was invaded or the person did something to ‘provoke’ the attack (yeah,something like breathing, kicking, paddling, surfing, wading, snorkeling, and the short list of things humans are capable of in an aquatic environment.) I’ve always asked “Who interviewed the shark afterwards to discern his intentions?”
Maybe he set out to kill a swimmer for sport, maybe he hates humans, maybe he had a taste for human flesh that day- how the hell do we know? Especially since, as you noted, many attacks are brutal and repeated, not to mention the ones where people are devoured entirely.I’ve never heard one of these ‘experts’ say “Sharks are dangerous, ravenous creatures whose cunning and capacity for violence towards humans should never be underestimated.” The ‘expert’ is always a bearded, bifocaled, middle-aged, white, overweight child-molester type who opines from the comfort of his easy chair but wouldn’t be caught in the ocean to save his soul. He ALWAYS gives the shark the benefit of the doubt. (I think that must be the requirement for becoming an ‘expert’)
Political correctness now governs even what people will say about a gruesome, even deadly shark attack. I haven’t heard anyone come to the defense of crocodiles or vipers who kill hundreds of people yearly, but maybe they’re next.
Take care,
Brian
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry