I’ve been waiting for this to happen for some time now. Unfortunately someone had to die before the red flags went up. A tourist from Austria was killed by a shark Monday approximately 50 miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. He was killed in chum filled water by a company that boasts “unique shark trips … run exclusively for shark enthusiasts and photographers.”.
I have had a long standing stance against these “shark excursion” companies. These companies take a bunch of people out in the wild blue ocean, chum the waters for sharks and then send in the customers. I know it’s like the perfect business model -Not! I think this is straight out of the what the hell were you thinking file.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with divers studying or photographing sharks and other ocean dwellers. Professional divers assume the risks of such activity and generally do their work without chumming the waters.
What’s next? We could strap steaks to tourist in Africa so they can get up close and personal with the Lions? Perhaps the only good thing about this incident was that the tourist was a lawyer. Lord forgive me for that…