Shark Attack

[JayAlfredPrufrock]

Nice to see that the shark that killed a swimmer in Egypt was caught and beaten to death on the beach.

<Slow handclap>

I don’t think this is anywhere as simplistic as a revenge attack on an animal. Egypt relies on tourism. If shark attacks become more common, people will stop spending money visiting.

Without the tourism industry people will lose their jobs and struggle to provide for their families’.

Yes, I’m sad that the shark was killed…. But my income, and my country’s wider economy, doesn’t rely on tourism. It’s easy to have morals about things that don’t directly affect you.

You are 100% correct here.

But I wonder if you know why exactly why I say that? In the bigger picture I mean.

It's not his fault. Swimming in deep water should not be normalised and of course, he didn't go out swimming expecting to encounter a shark.

But as a species, we have NO business in the sea to swim around. And the idea of getting retribution against an animal is just abhorrent and a grim snapshot of what we're doing to nature and our attitude towards it.

Did anyone commenting actually grow up with a shark problem?

I grew up in Florida where there were lots of things in all the bodies of water that could kill you- sharks/ gators/ water moccasins/ jelly fish etc.

You cannot leave a man eater running free. A friend of mine from school had life changing injuries (and was bloody lucky to be alive) when a shark attacked her in quite shallow water at a popular family resort. She lost a leg and part of her torso. She was seven years old.

If you have to live with the presence of dangerous animals then you know to take precautions. But actually it is very easy for those in England- with no large dangerous predators to moralise about this. But it is a whole different conversation when it is you and your family who are directly affected.

I can’t defend sport killing or casual culling but I have no tears to shed over sharks and gators who are caught and destroyed for eating a human.

I wonder if it was a British tourist would people on this thread perhaps be a bit less blunt about shrugging it off as just nature and the food chain
I think if it was a British person & it happened off the coast of the UK it would be a slightly different reaction.

So do dogs, but I can only imagine the reaction if one of those had been clubbed to death instead
Of course it's no consolation to this man's poor loved ones, but at least shark-caused deaths are incredibly rare (In case it doesn't include this, the link is Our World in Data's deadliest creatures)

I wonder if it was a British tourist would people on this thread perhaps be a bit less blunt about shrugging it off as just nature and the food chain?

No. The nationality makes no difference to me and I didn't know which country he was from until I read this thread.

Of course it was terrible for the man. No denying that and I do hope he lost consciousness quickly but treating a wild animal in its own territory like a serial killer makes no sense. There was no malice involved.

I do hope though that there'll be a crackdown in Egypt on overfishing and on feeding sharks for the "benefit" of tourists for the sake of humans and sharks but I won't hold my breath.

Do sharks feel terror? Fear? I agree that we shouldn't club sharks or any animals to death. I don't think we need to anthropomorphise a tiger shark.

@Boudicasbeard course they didn't hence why so judgey!

If you have to live with the presence of dangerous animals then you know to take precautions. But actually it is very easy for those in England- with no large dangerous predators to moralise about this. But it is a whole different conversation when it is you and your family who are directly affected.

You said it much better than me.

Nope.

My opinion is completely unchanged. We are made of meat. And there are plenty of us to go around.

What a bizarre analogy. Prob best to agree to disagree on this one!!

They probably wanted to retrieve his body. If your DC was eaten by a shark you are telling me you wouldn't want to get their remains back? They should have killed it humanely not clubbed it to death.

Of course it was terrible for the man. No denying that and I do hope he lost consciousness quickly but treating a wild animal in its own territory like a serial killer makes no sense. There was no malice involved.

You seem more concerned for the shark though. I think it makes complete sense. People were scared & fearful over what they saw & likely some worried about their livelihoods, hence why they did want they did. It's quite a human thing...

They see it bloodied and writhing and feel no empathy for an animal doing what animals do.

No, I expect they felt empathy for the man who died.

I believe they were acting out of very old, tribal, primal instincts to kill the creature who had torn apart another human.

The overall situation is of human making (over fishing the waters, chucking scraps to attract sharks, encouraging tourists to swim when it's not safe there) but I think seeing a person torn apart in front of you would unleash some old amygdala-driven instincts to protect your own kind.

Fight/ flight/ freeze or fawn all activate in this kind of situation. Freezing or fawning are not useful here. Flight will manifest in the people scrambling to get away.

Fighting to reclaim the water from the predator was a pretty natural outcome. It is not surprising that the shark was killed.

We're animals too, with a very ancient reptilian brain making very fast decisions in these situations.

@deepdeepblue it's not an analogy. Why is it arrogant to go into the sea?

I grew up in Florida where there were lots of things in all the bodies of water that could kill you- sharks/ gators/ water moccasins/ jelly fish etc

And yet go look at the shark attack survivors who are passionate advocates for shark conservancy. Personally in Florida I'd be more concerned about the risks from my fellow humans than the local wildlife

I have friends there and in Oz and yet somehow they're still pro wildlife and yes they take precautions but they don't expect every dangerous animal to be slaughtered to protect them and have no desire to live in a sterile world devoid of nature.

My opinion is completely unchanged. We are made of meat. And there are plenty of us to go around

What on earth does this mean?

There is a lot of assumptions going on I. This conversation about how much pain the shark felt (human pain not important) and moralising about how humans should stay out of the water.

This is very easy to say if you livelihood doesn’t rely on fishing/ sailing/ swimming or tourism by the sea. Stay out of the water because if you get eaten by a shark then it is your own fault is the weirdest thing I’ve come across in a long time!

My opinion is completely unchanged. We are made of meat. And there are plenty of us to go around.

This is a crass (at best) thing to say in reference to a person who has recently died in a very frightening way.

Omg how awful!

How can you kill something that is doing something that comes naturally.

Killing it will not stop any future attacks.

It was an awful thing to happen to the man but so are people dying from dog attacks, car crashes and cancer.

You cannot take revenge on an animal.

Meat eaters kill and consume animals all of the time, should they also be beaten to death by vegans.

A man has died. In awful circumstances. This whole thread is in really poor taste.

An awful way to go for both. How sad if there is a video going around of the young mans death. We had a similar attack in Australia a year or so again and i unwittingly viewed it before realising exactly what i was looking at. Took ages to get it out of my head.

I don't go in water past my waist and i stress out when i know others are going swimming! Terrified of sharks but also fascinated by them.

Do sharks feel terror? Fear? I agree that we shouldn't club sharks or any animals to death. I don't think we need to anthropomorphise a tiger shark

Yes sharks are capable of feeling fear and pain. It's a survival instinct. Do you really think that humans are the only animal capable of suffering?

But as a species, we have NO business in the sea to swim around.

@Bananananananananana Out of interest where do we have business? And why do we have no business in the sea?

Oh, well.