Wrong cage, wrong time. This wasn’t an actual shark attack as the shark just got stuck investigating the cage, but I may have died right then and there from a heart attack! You can see the divers freaking out and trying to get away from the jaws. They actually have to maneuver past the freaked-out shark’s jaws and out the opening at the top of the cage!
These are slightly disturbing. Maybe just its because I’m really hungry right now, but they actually look pretty good :)
Date: September 8, 2008 12 PM
Location: Canberra, Australia
Shark: Unknown
John Morgan, a 51-year-old surf shop owner got the surprise of his life while long boarding at an Australian local beach near the tourist town of Byron Bay. More than 300 yards offshore and paddling out further, Morgan’s afternoon was suddenly interrupted by a 10-foot-shark which suddenly appeared from right underneath him.
Fortunately for the surfer, the shark did not attack him or try a “test bite”, which often occurs in other shark-related incidents. But unfortunately, the shark caught itself in Morgan’s leg rope! Entangled, and presumably slightly enraged or annoyed, the shark charged out to see in an attempt to free itself, towing the surfer along in the ride of his life.
Can you imagine being stuck behind a shark taking you on a quick trip to the middle of the ocean?
“To say it was like being towed by a jet ski might be an exaggeration,” said Morgan, “but it was really fast.”
The shark eventually left its cargo behind and Morgan escaped a close call, catching a wave back into shore.
Date: September 9, 2008 Afternoon
Location: Kaaawa, Oahu
Shark: 12 foot Tiger Shark
I guess he didn’t like the way I tasted, said Todd Murashige, a 40-year-old surfer in describing his recent encounter with what authorities believe to be a Tiger shark. “I didn’t see it at all. It just seemed so surreal, like it wasn’t real, just head of a shark right there in my lap.”
“I stuck my fingers into his mouth to try to pry him off, but I didn’t feel any teeth. I think I was grabbing onto his gums or the lip part.”
Although Murashige didn’t feel any teeth with his hands, he certainly felt them sinking into his thigh. The shark bit once and after the surfer pried the jaws from his leg. He felt like the shark just took a “test bite”, because he wasn’t that aggressive after the initial attack.
“You never think that you’re going to be the one,” he said.
A stranger, Aren Souza of Punalu’u, who also had been surfing at Crouching Lion, came to Murashige’s aid, and the two paddled to shore, leaving a trail of blood in the water from “the chunk of flesh just hanging there” that used to be Murashige’s healthy thigh.
“While I was lying on the shore, I thought I was going to black out,” Murashige said. “I told myself if I black out, I’m going to die. That’s what I really felt in my gut.”
And this is where, he thought, that his life might end. Lying on the beach with a large piece of thigh muscle missing and bleeding profusely, he tried to call his wife and his mom. He said that he didn’t want to leave a message, but his wife called back.
“Its bad,” he said, “really bad.”
Murashige spent Tuesday night in Queen’s Medical Center in serious condition, having surgery to treat the deep wound in his thigh. Dr Kevin Christensen reported that Todd had lost a significant amount of blood, but the the prognosis is good.
Since then, Todd has been reliving the attack repeatedly in his mind and isn’t sure if he’ll try and surf again.
“I want to get back to walking first.”
Named for the blood in the water after a shark attack, the Red Triangle is a triangular-shaped region off the California coast where great white sharks are known frequent. There is a large population of marine mammals in this area, including elephant seals, sea otters, sea lions, and others.
And this is what draws in the predators. Great white sharks love the high fat content of these mammals, a favorite source of energy.
Somewhere close to 38% of all of the great white shark attacks on humans have occurred in the Red Triangle which extends South from Bodega Bay ( North of San Francisco ) out to the Farallon Islands and back to just South of Monterrey.
The good news, we guess, is that the shark attacks aren’t generally fatal with only 11% of the incidents resulted in death.
Here’s the documentary of one of these Red Triangle attacks:
Many biologists are tracing the increased aggression of sharks in the area to rulings similar to the US Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972. This law prevents humans from hunting the marine mammals in the Red Triangle. Great white sharks are seeing an increased food supply and as a result are producing larger litters more rapidly.
Even though the risk of being attacked by a great white shark is still extremely low, you may want to use a little extra caution when entering the Red Triangle. The chances of a shark encounter are a little higher here.
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