[Melissa] Brunning told the West Australian that she didn't realize she shouldn’t hand feed a shark, until the animal became "like a Hoover," sucking her right index finger into its mouth full of rows of razor-sharp teeth.Respect... and keep your distance. Don't hand-feed a shark.
“I think the shark was in shock as much as I was ... the only way I can describe it is this immense pressure and it felt like it was shredding it off the bone,” she told the paper. “I came up and I was like, ‘I’ve lost my finger, my finger’s gone.’”
The shark also pulled her into the water of Dugong Bay, which is inhabited by saltwater crocodiles that can grow up to 23 feet long and weigh more than a ton, according to Sky News.
"It’s not the shark’s fault at all, but it could have been a lot worse,” she told the paper, adding, "I’m not a shark victim .. I have full respect for sharks, I think they’re incredible. I’ve always had the opinion that when you’re in the water, they’re top of the food chain, it’s their domain."
By the way, there is video of the attack at the link, but I won't watch it.
Also, the shark was a tawny nurse shark, which does sound rather sweet. But don't try to nurse one!
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58 comments:
The saltwater croc and the Nile croc register at the highest levels when it comes to attitude.
Ann, a la yesterday's museum posts, please consider a follow-up post: "How to Dress for a Shark Feeding". Inquiring minds want to know if this woman was wearing shorts!
Who would have dreamt, you shouldn't hand feed a shark? What other things shouldn't we do? Cover our faces with blueberry jelly so a bear can lick it off? Have unprotected sex with prostitutes? Apparently, Lots of things that Seem Safe: Aren't!
I blame Walt Disney.
"How to Dress for a Shark Feeding"
in the video (There is A VIDEO of This Happening!!!!!) she is wearing shorts (well, a bikini, which is just about The Shortest Shorts there are)
The video isn't bad Althouse. She just falls in the water.
Nurse sharks don't have teeth.
Sounds like she's more terrified of being eaten alive by the sharks and crocodiles on social media than the ones in the water.
I can get a bit ... enthusiastic, if you feed me.
How refreshing, that someone actually admits that a negative consequence was their fault, and that they did something stupid. She deserves a medal.
Of course, her blondephobia will need to be dealt with.
Quint: Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark's in the water. Our shark.
I am impressed that she took responsibility for her own actions. Rare event these days.
Nothing to see in the video. She's crouching on a platform on the water; it looks as though she slips from it before immediately being pulled back up. Her hair barely got wet before she was hauled out.
"Nurse sharks don't have teeth."
They most certainly do.
Saltwater crocs can weigh a full two tons and there’s a video on YouTube of one eating a bull shark — a man-eating species. Note for potential tourists: in Australia everything tries to kill you. They have some of the most dangerous spiders, including a relative of the black widow that hides under toilet seats, several of the world’s most venomous species of snakes, box jellyfish, cone snails, the blue-banded octopus, three species of man-eating shark, and — top of the food chain — salt water crocs.
The shark thought it was just playing along with the old "pull my finger" gag.
As inoffensive as nurse sharks may appear, they are ranked fourth in documented shark bites on humans, likely due to incautious behavior by divers on account of the nurse shark's slow, sedentary nature.
"Bloody shawk bit me finga!"
Paco Wové said...
nurse sharks ... shark's slow, sedentary nature.
That was one shitty article, and anyway, "Not to be confused with grey nurse shark or tawny nurse shark", which are perhaps even lazier:
"Encounters with tawny nurse sharks underwater indicate a more docile demeanor than the similar nurse shark; usually divers are able to approach the sharks closely and even touch and play with them without incident. However, this species has been infrequently provoked into biting, and merits respect due to its strength, small but sharp teeth, and extremely powerful jaws."
It’s frustrating not being able to swim in the sea anywhere, crossing northern Australia from Broome the whole way to Cairnes. Or swim in an ocean connected river through that distance. Some rivers are thick with them. For instance if you fall off the bridge into the Adelaide river on the Stuart highway, outside of Darwin, you will not make it to shore. Period.
They stopped shooting them in the 70’s and the population exploded. They snag wallabies and ‘roos when they drink riverside, and there’s an endless supply.
North of Darwin, in East Timor, there’s a lake where women suicide by intentionally throwing themselves at crocs, because they’re considered gods. Off topic, I saw something in East Timor that swore me off pork for life. Except crispy bacon of course.
Big Mike said... a bull shark
Here’s a strange thing. One of the prettiest things you can do in Nicaragua is get the ferry across Lake Imotepe to a beautiful jungle coverered volcano. There are some small places to stay on the island that are gorgeous. Lots of monkeys that spend quiet moments masturbating. In the lake are the world’s only freshwater sharks, bull sharks. They eat people who are foolish enough to swim near the river estuary that feeds into it.
sodal ye:
You should write about your travels -- a book, a blog, whatever. What are you doing out there in the world, and why? Who are you, what are you? I'm interested.
I second roughcoat's comment. Sodal ye will die young but will have led an interesting life. I just hope the obituary writer catches the intrepid spirit of his adventure on planet earth. I just hope it's death by a charging rhino or some such creature. Death by dysentery is kind of sordid and anti-climactic. Malarial fever is acceptable but not ideal.
They stopped shooting them in the 70’s and the population exploded.
Typical left bullshit. Neville Shute has a novel about Australia called about a young woman who starts a shoe factory in an outback town to change the lives of the locals.
It's a wonderful novel and I had all my daughters read it. The shoes are alligator (or croc) and the local trappers provided the skins.
A tour boat operator in Queensland a few years ago was prosecuted for letting two young women passengers swim in a croc infested lagoon. They disappeared.
A great white bit off a woman's canoe last week.
I wonder if that is similar to the story about a woman who was shot "and the bullet's in her yet ?"
Man, Aussies are so damn adorable.
Roughcoat said...What are you doing out there in the world, and why? Who are you, what are you? I'm interested.
Here’s the dirt. I’m aware of my mortality, although it doesn’t bother me more than anyone else. I don’t believe in an afterlife. I don’t think I was born as a foreigner to the earth, which is what some people seem to behave as if. The short window of life, to me, is connected to this planet intimately. I am of it, not alien to it. I think I would have turned my back on the miracle of my life if I didn’t explore this place and this incredible event. I don’t want to regret not getting to know as much as possible about it. I see a life as a blossom on the tree.
I was lucky enough to start and later sell a successful company when I was relatively young. I divorced 20 years ago. My children are adults, and I fly back to see them regularly, and for example one just flew out to join me for a short exploration a couple of months ago, and they have an open invitation. I’m lucky to be fit and athletic enough. I do it border-to-border by land because that’s the only way to see countries and people warts and all.
One cost is quite high. I am often lonely, sometimes very. Travelling with others, other than the occasional woman, removes me from the requirement to deal with and learn from the exposure to complex circumstances, particularly in difficult times, so I don’t do it. The reward from this is enormous.
I have no interest in Europe, for example, as it seems removed from the point of the exercise. I was partly educated there.
It’s a 10 year project, not so much, as a percentage of the whole.
I won’t write about it because I can’t think of a reason to that isn’t to some extent self-promoting, which seems to be a motivation for others like me. I do, like this, take the time to sell it as perhaps an essential experience. A year, carefully planned, would be enough. Don’t plan to talk about it afterwards, people’s eyes glaze over. It’s a private thing.
Well, it's not sharks and crocodiles but it does show a bit of a dustup amongst cape buffalo, lions and alligators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
Good luck on your adventure.
Ya know. Unless you're going to hook it and eat it or shoot it and eat it, LEAVE it the FUCK ALONE.
sodal ye said... crossing northern Australia ...
They stopped shooting them in the 70’s and the population exploded.
"In the Northern Territory there are now as many as 100,000 saltwater crocodiles, up from just 3,000 in 1971."
Neville Shute has a novel about Australia called about a young woman who starts a shoe factory in an outback town to change the lives of the locals.
That's a really long name for a novel about shoes.
Good for you, soda ye.
I don’t want to regret not getting to know as much as possible about it. I see a life as a blossom on the tree.
I have a daughter who has been far more adventurous than I am. Of course I was supporting these kids.
She spent multiple summers working an archeological dig in Ecuador and took off one time to fly over the Andes in a small plane so she could canoe down the Amazon origin. She said the mosquitoes were so big you could see them flying at a distance. Like small hummingbirds. She did not get Malaria, thank god.
She's the one building the cabin in northern Idaho.
"That's a really long name for a novel about shoes."
It's about a lot more but the shoe part was about crocs.
Shute is my favorite novelist. The only one of his I don't like is "On the Beach," which scared the shit out of my as a college student.
This woman is smarter than most.
Everyone does stupid shit.
Not everyone learns from it.
"just a blonde doing a stupid thing"
She looks like a redhead with a blonde dye job to me. Approach with caution.
Michael K said... Ecuador and took off one time to fly over the Andes in a small plane so she could canoe down the Amazon origin.
Small world! I rode over the Andes in Ecuador to the end of the road, Copa. That’s probably where she flew into. A tough town. I take pride in being the first foreigner (tho see below) to go back 90 miles to (can’t remember the village name, Misahouli?) upstream with his bike on the Rio Napo. Paid some locals with a shallow steel canoe with an outboard to tackle the shallow rapids later on. One guy sat up front guiding us with a long pole, trying to find water depth after about the mid-point. It rained so hard at times we couldn’t see the shore.
I did this with a very young very hardy American couple on a bike who I took under my wing after getting trapped by them into few days of cocaine fueled partying in Quito. They took no pursuading with the trip idea, being young and foolish.
The dramatic change in the river course over time was interesting. My GPS track showed little resemblance to the OSM base map as we travelled.
I have a feeling these stories are not Althouse material. Sorry. I come here to confirm that liberals are insane.
*Coca, not Copa.
" That’s probably where she flew into. A tough town."
She said it was an oil drilling town and she was the only woman. That was about 15 years ago.
The archeological dig was at 14,000 feet above Quito. Her best pal was an Archeology grad student and Claire just went to visit and hang out. The professor in charge of the dig asked her to take over a trench because she had the best Spanish. He wanted her to change her major to Archeology,
Her pal on the dig is just as adventurous. She taught English in Thailand and now has the adjacent parcel of land in Idaho, They have been friends since college.
The proper name of Coca is Puerto Francisco de Orellana.
The proper name of La Paz, Bolivia is Nuestra Señora de La Paz, which translates to Our Lady of Peace.
I love the Latin Americans for this stuff. Their Catholicism is cool. I have the ultimate story about this, but I’d never put it in writing. buwaya would like it.
I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist,
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."
Michael K... She said it was an oil drilling town.
That’s it!
Next time you speak to her, ask her about the huge plane parked in the mud, now a strange extention of the place I stayed at. Impossible to miss. Congratulations to her, that’s a fairly extreme place to be.
Complete nothingburger.
Althouse needs a blonde tag.
Michael K... She said it was an oil drilling town.
That’s it!
Next time you speak to her, ask her about the huge plane parked in the mud,
I called her. She doesn't remember the plan. That was 15 years ago. Maybe it wasn't there.
She did mention that it was "a pretty sketchy place."
She now works for a famous artist that I never heard of. She travels all over the world either with him or representing him.
They were in Mexico City a month ago and then a gallery in New York was doing an exhibit of his work and flew them all in a private jet to the opening.
While nurse sharks obviously can bite, they are pretty tame. I've had one on my lap. And I'm no dumb blond. This was at XCaret in Cancun. One of the attractions is Swim with Sharks. It's all nurse sharks, and the only real instruction is not to try to touch them.
Nurse sharks don't have teeth.
Wow. Nurse sharks use their teeth to grab and hold onto the bottom-dwelling crustaceans and molluscs which comprise the bulk of their diet. One a nurse shark gets a grip the jaw muscles reflexively clamp down with enough force to pulverize an oyster shell, which explains why the foolish blonde was trapped by only her finger.
This story from Oz isn't that uncommon. Is there something about female blondes that compel them to do stupid stuff like this? Is it the "aw, isn't it cute?" syndrome? Or something more systemic in the female brain?
All sharks have teeth. Period. Even the whale shark has teeth even though they have no apparent function.
typo: "One a nurse shark..." should read "Once a nurse shark..."
It so often seems that everyone has a more interesting life than mine.
I learned to not fear nurse sharks while scuba diving. But it would not have occurred to me to try to feed or touch one.
Complete nothingburger.
Howard is channeling the salties.
My comment about the Amazon town should have said the"plane" was not there when she was.
How can you not love sharks? They are sleek, and cool ocean predators. They are great swimmers, and they love you back. They have rows of shark's teeth - a dentist's nightmare come true. When one tooth false out, another is there to takes its place. What would West Side Story be without the Sharks and the Jets? The Jets and the Tunas doesn't work unless you're on a plane ordering a sandwich, or sushi. Card Salmon doesn't have the same ring to it. How many salmons are good at poker? Many Chinese value sharks for their fins to make overpriced shark-fin soup. Imagine Cambell's Shark Fin Soup. Not a winner in this country. Sharks are being slaughtered into extinction. How would you like that if you were a shark? You'd hate it. What is Trump going to do to stop extrajudicial killings of our beloved sharks? The answer is NOTHING. He won't even drop his pants. He's in a fantasy world all his own. If you are in his fantasies, you suck. We're out of luck with Trump, and so are the sharks. Elections have consequences. Sometimes really bad ones.
"It so often seems that everyone has a more interesting life than mine."
You know what's worse? I know two people whose lives are not only interesting, they are living exactly the sort of life I daydreamed about living back when I was a teenager. It's like they stole my planned life!
Not that my life isn't fine, and far better than I deserve, but still, when I talk to them there's always the little voice saying, "Hey! I was gonna do that! Give it back!"
"Elections have consequences. Sometimes really bad ones."
So does insanity.
I could see how this could happen. Nurse sharks sorta look like big catfish, and they're relatively placid and slow moving (usually). Why not try to pet or feed one? But wild things are wild, no matter how cute or calm they appear.
My wife got bitten by a fish during a feeding session at Stingray City. It drew blood, going after the bait in her hand. After that we avoided those artificial feeding sessions while diving.
Quastar is channeling my blonde female tech writer correcting typos
With the last post of Trumpit the mask slips. A parodist, not a believer.
Crocodile infested waters? She barely injured her finger.
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