Hypothetical shark attack question

[audission]

I was watching a well-known shark movie the other night.. and a thought occured to me.

Say a great white or other "maneater" DID attack in an unusual area, would it be considered "rogue" and be hunted down? If not now, would it ever have been?

I know that in the past, lions that have attacked villages have been considered "maneaters" and subsequently hunted down, but would this ever happen with sharks that attacked bathers? And how the hell would you find "the shark responsible" anyway?!

(I suspect the answer is that Hollywood strikes again, but just curious)

 

[Mike Veitch]

ya, they do that all the time actually

 

[Walter]

What do you consider an "unusual area?" Sharks are not all that picky about where they bite. Arms, legs, head, body are all usual when it comes to shark attacks.

 

[Mike Veitch]

erm.... Walter...

unusual like say off the coast of alaska

 

[mikerault]

They actually end up killing sharks not involved for the most part. They did a tagging study off of Hawaii and found that sharks (at least the ones that have been known to attack man) usually travel pretty far so the shark that attacks on beach X today is usually dozens of miles away the next day.

Mike

 

[audission]

What do you consider an "unusual area?" Sharks are not all that picky about where they bite. Arms, legs, head, body are all usual when it comes to shark attacks.

Sorry, by "unusual area" I meant as in geography, not anatomy.

I would have thought if a swimmer gets bitten by a shark, it's just nature/their bad luck isn't it... :huh:

 

[Walter]

Except for the fact that all shark attacks are unusual, there is no unusual areas geographically either. Shark are distributed world wide and those most likely to attack are some of the most common.

 

[grassyknoll]

I suppose if a shark attacked in the middle of a kindergarden playground that would be considered "unusual", and I would imagine that they would hunt it down.

In all seriousness though, hunting "rouge" sharks was common practice up until the mid-90s. As mentioned earlier by mikerault, Hawaii had a rash of tiger shark attacks in the late eighties to early ninetys that resulted in an organized effort to eradicate those sharks responsible. As the studies confirmed years later, tigers don't stick around so your chances of getting your maneater is about nill. Unlike lions, tigers and bears (oh my), sharks don't seem to develop the same predatory pattern of stiking around to pick off the easy bipeds, lucky for us.

Hunting killer sharks is pretty much a thing of the past even in places where the greatest predation occurs-California, S. Africa, Australia etc...public sentimnet seems to have changed and the public is more inclined to take a "it can happen when you play in the big blue" mentality. But to your point, a populace that is not accustomed to attacks could get worked into a tizzy I suppose, so perhaps what you are asking has some merit, after all look how some people reacted to that assasin of the sea-the stingray.

 

[Fish Janitor]

This is a funny thread.

Only recently (last few years) have authorities stopped an "endorsed" hunting of local sharks after an attack. Although, this does not stop the yahoo's from heading out on their buddies boat with a twelve pack in tow.

I will mention - that after Steve Irwin was killed, many folks in AUS began fishing sting rays in a very similar fashion- not for food or for sport, but for revenge.... Now that is scary.

Lets get back to the question at hand.

If there were a true "rogue" shark as portrayed in the movie. My guess is that it would be hunted as such.

A tourist area with multiple attacks from an animal not normally found there- yep they would do their best to hunt it down and kill it. Just my two cents.....

 

[adza]

Depends. Recently here in Australia (if I recall the story correct), a guy was attacked and killed by a great white. The powers that be decided to chase the shark out of the area. They had plenty of opportunity to get rid of it if they wanted, but chose against it.

However - in the process of 'chasing it away', they lost sight of it, and didn't know where it went. That's the last I heard. (Of course, that was via news - which has as times, being known to change facts a bit )

So I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but from what I can gather, here in Aus - they don't hunt them down.

BTW - the movie you were watching wasn't Jaws by any chance?