[BrianR]

I agree...there is no way the particular shark responsible can be accurately identified. Even so, the attack was not malicious, it was instinct. People swinning look and sound a LOT like a wounded seal or injured fish; a shark's favorite prey. Sharks don't normally eat humans because we don't taste good and are bony compared to the yummy fish and mammals in the sea.

When we enter the ocean, we lose our place at the top of the food chain and enter a world in which we are ill-suited to survive. One, in fact, that is hostile to us and our well-being. Sharks are the superpredators of the oceans and swim at or close to the top of the food chain whereas we humans are several rungs down.

Hunting and killing the shark who attacked the surfer is an act of revenge, pure and simple. It will not deter other sharks from doing the same thing. The shark will not regret it's actions. I doubt it even remembers anymore. Sharks lack higher reasoning skills and the capacity to understand cause and effect. They can't even see well. They identify prey by (unfortunately) biting it. Yes, they can track blood unerringly to it's source over vast distances and sense electrical currents produced by living things to an amazing degree, but they have the brain capacity of a worm.

I vote we leave the sharks alone, post warnings about their presence for the surfers and swinners, and quit watching Jaws.

Brian