A rare shot of the normally busy Fish Hoek Bay completely void of swimmers and surfers.
A leisurely swim turned into a nightmare for the unsuspecting Zimbabwean swimmer who was in waist deep water when the shark hit two days ago (13/1/10) at Fish Hoek beach in Cape Town. News of the attack was first posted on Twitter well before any mainstream news publishers got wind of it. Tweeter @skabenga, who (according to his history of posts) seems to be a keen Kalk Bay local, reported that the attack took place in front of his house just after half past three. Below are the Twitter accounts of the incident taken off @skabenga’s Twitter page:
Tue 12 Jan at 15:40: Holy shit, we just saw a GIGANTIC shark eat what looked like a person right in front of our house in fishhoek. Unbelievable.
Tue 12 Jan at 15:44: Emergency services just arrived. It must have been a person. The shark breached it’s head out the water no remains http://yfrog.com/1dronnpj
Tue 12 Jan at 15:47: We are dumbstruck, that was so surreal. That shark was HUGE. Like dinosaur huge.
Tue 12 Jan at 16:06: Helicopters are out and looking for any trace of the remains. Shark headed off Clovelly way.
Tue 12 Jan at 16:15: Ironically the Cape Times issued a shark warning a few hours ago. http://bit.ly/8Qs2zW
Tue 12 Jan at 16:40: there was no thrashing or struggle visible so we assume the shark had already struck once and the victim was unconscious.
Tue 12 Jan at 16:42: @stii apparently whale watchers just found half a body …. lucky there arent many waves to miss out on by not surfing in FH 🙂
The victim who was enjoying the New Year holiday with his family appears to have had little or no chance of surviving, with witnesses and lifeguards reporting it to be a huge great white. More alarmingly, the shark came back for seconds, behaving in a manner normally considered uncommon in attacks on humans. As explained by one woman who watched the shark’s attack from the shore. “(After the first bite) It then swam off, turned around very quickly and took the remainder of the body on his return and then he came out of the water and went off. Immediately there was a sea of blood,” she explained.
Big sharks are common in the area as they hunt schools of salmon and city lifeguards are constantly on the look out at the popular beach but as local Gregg Oelofse said it was impossible to spot every shark. “When is it safe to go in the water and when is it not and when do we start closing the beaches every time there’s a shark. Which means the beaches would be closed through the summer months. So it’s a very difficult thing to do and obviously it’s a very sad thing when somebody loses their life.”
Ironically Cape Town’s disaster management warned bathers a day earlier to “be on the lookout for Great White sharks, which traditionally cruise that stretch of the coast for a nibble at this time of year.” A straightforward warning for swimmers and surfers – though the choice of the word “nibble” seems hauntingly inadequate. Any bite (be it on a human or oceanic prey) by one of these prehistoric beauties surely can’t be described as a nibble?
Regardless of the wording the warning was there and most are aware of the dangers sharks pose in this part of the world. As pointed out by spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes. “The appearance of White sharks is normal during peak summer months in Cape Town near in-shore areas, as these sharks are known to hunt and feed along this stretch of coastline at this time of year.”
Most recently sharks have not been seen coming close to the beaches or near swimmers. But shark spotters have seen them along the False Bay coastline between Sunrise Beach and Fish Hoek. Information on recent shark movements in False Bay is available on the Shark Spotters website www.sharkspotters.org.za
News of shark attacks (especially when they are fatal) always send shivers down the spines of those amongst us who take pleasure in visiting the home of these creatures. But as visitors it’s the risk we choose to take. Question is – would you swim or surf in an area known to be a hunting ground for great whites? I’m of a mind to cancel a planned surfing trip to South Africa just thinking about it. But, in reality nothing’s going to stop me surfing J Bay. Now where’s my bowie knife?
– Col B
Video1: While not a fan of culling it’s good to know there are some mammals on the food chain above the great white.
