Tourist killed by 'dinosaur-sized' shark off South African beach

Tourist killed by 'dinosaur-sized' shark off South African beach

www.guardian.co.uk

Witnesses today described their horror at seeing a tourist being eaten by a "gigantic" shark in South Africa's most popular holiday destination.

Lloyd Skinner was pulled under the surf and dragged out to sea by the shark, believed to be a great white, off Fish Hoek beach in Cape Town. His diving goggles and a dark patch of blood were all that remained in the water.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Lifeguards and rescue vessels search for the remains of a shark attack victim off Fish Hoek beach in Cape Town. Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPA

"Holy #. We just saw a gigantic shark eat what looked like a person in front of our house," witness Gregg Coppen posted on Twitter. "That shark was huge. Like dinosaur huge."

Comparing Shark with Dinosaur is silly Imo, nonetheless it is pretty horrific helplessly watching a person eaten alive in front of you.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

What's a "minibus" in South African terms? Is that like a "minivan" in American terms?

If that's the case then it wouldn't surprise me that the great white was as big as a minivan. I'm sure there are many great whites even larger than that.

I guess it could be comparable to an American "short bus", which would be ironic in this situation, you know, swimming in great white infested waters and all.

Peace

[edit on 14-1-2010 by Dr Love]

It is a tragic situation.

However ... False Bay is well known for their Great Whites. Seal Island is one of their main feeding grounds. There are also numerous tours there where you can go cage diving with them - the water is chummed and the sharks are drawn closer for the tourists.

So, the sharks have become used to humans - habituated is the term I think.

One other thing - there are shark spotters in the hill above - they radio in to the lifeguards and the warning is given. That day, the water was too murky for shark spotters so Black Flags were flown - this indicates that you swim at your own risk.

A minibus is similiar to a minivan - except that it has 16 seats (approx) and is used by our taxi (local transport) industry.

If I venture into the maximum security area of a prison I would expect to meet up with some bad folks. If I went to a catholic church, I would expect to see a priest. Sharks live in the ocean. Real big sharks live in the waters near South Africa. Knee deep is as far as I would go. Sad that someone died though.

Whilst in ther South African Navy based in Simon's Town, very near Fish Hoek we used to have a Great white shark that was fondly named 'Submarine' as it appeared on Sonar, it used to cruise the naval base waters pretty often.

Probably the size of a WW2 Daphne class submarine

Don't know the size but it was BIG!!

The thing is, great whites might not target (have a taste for) humans, but they don't realize you're human until they take one bite out of you and your intestines are spilling out all over the place.

Peace



[edit on 14-1-2010 by Dr Love]

A mini bus is basicaly the same size as a Ford Transit or E series utility van .

Let's make it the easy way :
en.wikipedia.org...
More than 6 meters.
en.wikipedia.org...
Up to 13 meters.

Half the size of a T-Rex. Basically, we get into the dinosaur stuff.

Its a great white shark, its not a dinosaur.

Well, I assure that this area will now be a busy tourist spot, or at least crawling with cyrptozoologists.

That place will make a killing where tourism is concerned. Good strategies these morbid people have, turn a murder story into a crytozoologist story and try and recreate a Lough Ness scenario.

Many people have been killed at Fish Hoek over the years. That's why they implemented the Shark Watch back in 2004.

As deltaalphanovember pointed out - there was clear indication and warnings not to swim. And as we can see, it's there for a good reason.

Anyway, the water is so cold around Cape Town, I can't imagine why anyone would want to swim there. That's why we have the North and South coast: For swimming. West coast. Not so much.

Type "air jaws" in youtube if you want to see some impressive footage of South African great whites. They are the most aggressive and acrobatic great whites I have seen.

Originally posted by Jacob08
Type "air jaws" in youtube if you want to see some impressive footage of South African great whites.

Like this one?



That's all the reminder I need to be careful about where I go swimming off the coast of South Africa! But the reference to "Dinosaur size" seems a little odd to me, they could have just estimated the size relative to the man it ate.

In that video the guy says the shark is basically the size of their boat and it's a decent sized boat!

[edit on 14-1-2010 by Arbitrageur]

Oh dear, it's always sad when these things happen.
It must be pretty horrific seeing someone being eaten by a shark in front of you.
And probably being eaten by a shark too.

But if the black flags were up, you wouldn't catch me in the water.
To be honest, I wouldn't be in there anyway.
Not near where they get seals.

They're amazing creatures, but you've gotta give the guys a lot of respect.
Like crocs I suppose.

Poor guy though.

Edit: I just watched that vid.
I definetely wouldn't be in the water with those guys!
They're HUGE!

[edit on 14/1/2010 by Ayana]

Honestly being fish bait is a rather scary thought. The sheer size of some of the great whites gives one reason to respect them; add to that their power, grace, and killing instinct and I sure do not want to swim with them.

At the same time I am saddened that cases like this often bring about an increase in hunting as “pest removal”. Really it is not hard to keep out of waters termed as dangerous, but of course mankind has to be able to do anything they wish. I would hate to see innocent animals being killed for doing what comes naturally to them only because people want to swim.

Raist

Originally posted by Raist


At the same time I am saddened that cases like this often bring about an increase in hunting as “pest removal”.

I agree with this so much!
I hate it when you hear about a shark/croc or something attacking a person and then getting killed for it.

Afterall, we're in their space, we're easy prey.
It isn't the animals fault, it's just doing what it does.

If we do have a bigger brain, we'd keep away from them.

It is still sad though, I'd hate that to happen to someone I knew. Mainly because it could be prevented.

Man thats rough! my sympathys tot he victim n family*
Personaly, they shuold have done their research, if they knew they were gunna go swimming thier..like are sharks known to go into shallow water thier, come in the area and all.
HEre in new england, i think it was the 1960's their was a tiger shark romaing close to the beaches, moreso towards NJ i belive..i saw documentary on it while back. That gave brith, to the movie 'jaws'.
I used to like going swimmig when i was younger, at beack, southweest shore of CT, duriong august/september. Then one day, i was maybe 11, my skin was reddish, and nasty brown fluffys tuff washing up on shore. Later i learned, our local sewage treatement plant is literally, 1 block or closer, from the beach : [ thats where whatever wasnt caught in cleaning process is dumped.
We also every year, get LOTS of jellyfish that wander near shore, so its not really safe* When i was 12 and up i develope a fear of water....one freind stepped on a crab he coundt see in knee high tdie, calmped onto his toe. i thought, damn i cant see my knees down i aint goin any farther* current could take me out, which it actually almost did. I went mabe 1/2 a mile out as the tide was coming in, and realized i was going out! opposite of land* i never pushed and swam so hard with my body n legs.
A freind years ago, early 90's was out fisihing one day, same beach going out into long island sound. A big brown colored fish, kinda shark size, maybe bigger sped past them right under thier boat. The were fisihing for bluefish* scared teh crap outta them, started the boat motor and headed back inland*
The ocean is full of predators, people need to remember that n keep that in mind, when beach swimming* maybe its better, to just get some sun n lay in the sand*

Please delete

[edit on 2010/1/15 by GradyPhilpott]

Fascinating and yet tragic story. The attack happened in a little deeper than shoulder height water. Very usually for a white shark. Sounds more like a bull shark attack. But the whole "minibus" size, and the location clearly point to a white shark.

Every shark has its own personality, this shark fits the bill of a rouge shark. Shallow water is usually a safe place to swim in white shark territory. A fish that large in that shallow of water is in serious danger beaching its self. But didn't seem to bother the fish.

White sharks are protected species, but I am curious how the SA government is going to handle this.

Please delete

[edit on 2010/1/15 by GradyPhilpott]