Shark!

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Well god bless the spammer, he brought this to my attention!

Spammer gone, buh-bye.

Must have been a dolphin.

[classicman]

Australian snorkeller snatched by shark

A snorkeller is believed to have been snatched by a shark as he swam last weekend with his son at a beach south of Perth. Witnesses reported seeing a dorsal fin and thrashing in the water before the sea turned red and the man vanished at the scene on Australia's west coast.

Father-of three Brian Guest, 51, who had campaigned for many years for the protection of sharks, had been looking for crabs on yesterday morning with his 24-year-old son when he was attacked about 30 metres from the shore.

Luke Tubbs told how a witness ran to his house in shock and screaming for help: "He just saw a big splash and then the shark roll over in the water with the guy and then [he saw] no body or anything."

Daniel Guest, who was swimming six metres away at the Port Kennedy beach, heard his father's screams but did not see the attack. He raced to shore when he saw blood in the water. His father's shredded wetsuit was found later, and aerial searches spotted a five-metre great white shark swimming in the area.

In Sydney, some hours later, a kayaker survived a terrifying ordeal after being knocked from his craft by a great white shark. That encounter, endured by 29-year-old Steve Kulcsar, occurred less than a mile off Australia's east coast, at Long Reef, and was filmed by a fisherman in a small boat nearby. The video footage apparently showed the shark circling Kulcsar after bumping him off his kayak.

Kulcsar said: "I knew it was there, but my first thought was to just get back in the kayak as quick as possible."

For 10 minutes, the shark is seen lurking around him and two other kayakers before losing interest and swimming away.

The two great white encounters sparked panic and closed a number of beaches across Australia.

Yesterday Bondi beach was closed yesterday after a shark was spotted close to shore. Swimmers were also evacuated from a Queensland holiday island after sharks were spotted in waist-deep water.

During an aerial search on the West *Australian coastline for Guest's body, sharks were spotted, forcing the closure of two beaches.

The attack on Guest was the second by sharks in Australia this year. A 16-year-old surfer, Peter Edmonds, died after being attacked by a shark near Byron bay, on the New South Wales coast, in April.

This anywhere near our Aussie dwellars?

[Shawnee123]

Nothing worse than a shark snatch. Unless it's a whale penis.

[Trilby]

Australian sharks seem so very pesky and nasty. Must be something in the water.

[Aliantha]

I don't think we have any regular perth dwellars. That's right over on the western side of the country.

Interestingly, the mans' family have said they don't want the shark killed.

It's not legal to do so anyway if it's a Great White as has been suggested.

Very sad news, but compared to the number of people killed in car crashes over the Christmas period, one shark death is hardly worth talking about.

That's the thing about it for me. No one runs around saying, 'let's get rid of all the cars' just because someone dies in a crash and yet when someone gets taken by a shark the same crap starts up again.

It's unlucky to get taken, but if you're sharing the environment then that's the risk you take.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by Brianna

Australian sharks seem so very pesky and nasty. Must be something in the water.

I think it's because we have a huge beach culture here because most of the country is hot enough to swim or surf almost all year round so of course the number of encounters with sharks is higher. Also, there's probably more of them here than around most of the pacific and indonesian islands because we don't kill anywhere near as many. The waters around PNG are almost devoid of sharks thanks to over fishing.

Some of those sharks are a bit pesky though. A few of the beaches in our area were closed several times the day after Christmas because what is thought to have been a small school of bull sharks were in close and could possibly have been a danger.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by DucksNuts

I thought sharks were protected these days?

Some species of shark are protected, but not all. Bull sharks are not on the protected list.

The ones you would have heard of are of course the Great White or White pointer, and the Grey Nurse which possibly isn't as close to extinction as once thought thanks to some very large colonies having been found on the central eastern coast.

[Trilby]

I've often wondered about the name 'Grey Nurse'. How can they tell? They wear little caps?

[Aliantha]

Yeah, and sexy stockings and short skirts.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by Brianna

Australian sharks seem so very pesky and nasty. Must be something in the water.

Yeah, humans.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Very sad news, but compared to the number of people killed in car crashes over the Christmas period, one shark death is hardly worth talking about.

What if someone snatched you out of your car and paraded you down the beach in a wheelbarrel full of water until you died from lack of oxygen?

[Aliantha]

ahhh...you might need to explain that one Els. I don't get it.