The Bunker Bay shark attack is a tragic case of wrong time, wrong place

Bunker Bay, WA, where a body surfer was mauled to death by a shark

Readers of this blog know I'm an advocate for sharks and follow the mantra "don't swim in the surf at dawn or dusk" because that's when these primordial animals are usually out hunting for something tasty to eat.

Sadly, there are exceptions to the rule. In Western Australia, what is thought to have been a great white shark yesterday "savaged" and killed a body surfer. The attack occurred at midday.

The 21-year-old was catching waves at popular surf spot Boneyards Break, Bunker Bay.

Here's part of the story published at WAToday.com (WT) that might help explain this tragedy:

'The attack occurred in an area popular with surfers and anglers and close to a seal colony, to the west of Cape Naturaliste, a noted whale-watching spot about three hours' drive south of Perth.

"You could have described it as perfect shark conditions . . . dark and gloomy water, overcast skies, light rain falling. There was whale action earlier in the morning in the bay, and there were seals about," Sergeant Craig Anderson from the Dunsborough police said.'

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/surfers-horror-as-shark-savages-mate-20110905-1jsx0.html#ixzz1X1xdxDNp

The death of this young bloke appears to be a case of mistaken identity. Is it a seal? Let's take a bite and see. 

In 2009, Perth Now reported that there had been 18 shark attacks in WA since 1997, four of them fatal.

The story in WT ends with: 'Yesterday's attack is the third fatal shark mauling in Australia in just over 12 months, and the second in WA's south-west.

The attack happened about an hour’s drive from Gracetown, where 31-year-old Nicholas Edwards was killed by a shark on August 17 last year.


In February, an abalone diver was taken by two sharks, believed to be great whites, at Coffin Bay, South Australia.'

I feel it's important to remember here that it's not the shark's fault. It was cruising its territory doing what predatory animals do - looking for the next meal. Or it may have just been curious. The awful outcome is that someone has died as a result. 

PS: Photo of Bunker Bay from WT

It just wouldn't be summer in Sydney without a shark attack, but this one's a furphy

I was a bit slow to follow up on this one, but a man was supposedly 'attacked' by a shark at Mona Vale beach yesterday.

On my way home from work I picked up a copy of the free paper mX (it's a Rupert Murdoch rag) which ran the headline:

Shark attack

A quote from the victim was highlighted: 'It tried to drag me out ... and I won'

The pic of the wound on the victim's lower leg (the calf muscle) mustn't have looked gruesome enough for the newspaper because it was run as an inset. It looked like a graze to me. And I could've sworn the victim was smiling for the camera.

The usual sensational pap followed - it was a great white. Or maybe a bronze whaler or a tiger shark. Or the dreaded bull shark. It nearly dragged the man to his death. It was 2 metres long. The victim sustained 'deep lacerations to his leg and at least one shark tooth [was] still in his leg'.

So on and so forth. Blah blah blah.

By this morning the story had lost much of its appeal. It turns out that all the hysteria was for nothing. The vicious maneater is a wobbegong!

Let me tell you about the poor old wobbegong. If the wobbegong (great name, I could say it all day) was a human being he would be an 80-year-old man with dentures, failing eyesight and a nagging wife. And his name would be Herb.

Wobbegongs are pretty harmless. They nip when provoked. This one, Herb, is about 1 metre long with a 10 centimetre wide mouth. Shark experts say Herb was probably acting in self-defense after the victim 'spooked' or trod on him.

Around this time last year there were two awful shark attacks in Sydney - a 2.7 metre bull shark almost killed a navy diver at Woolloomooloo in Sydney Harbour (he literally lost an arm and a leg) and a 2.5 metre great white almost tore off a surfer's hand at Bondi.

But right now I can only imagine some hack bobbing about in a tinny off Bondi - tossing buckets of burly into the ocean in the hope of ramping up the action.

And what of the victim? He was released from hospital at midday yesterday and negotiating with Channel 9 to tell his story for a large sum of money. I bet that deal's fallen through.

At least he gets to keep Herb's tooth.

PS: See you in the ocean at Bondeeeee on Sundeeeeee!

Bull shark cruises Sydney Harbour from Manly to Abbotsford and back

Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Daily Telegraph has managed to run a story on SHARKS, even though it's mid-winter in Sydney.

Last summer SHARKS were Page 1 headliners.

In early February, navy diver Paul de Gelder lost a hand and a leg after he was attacked in Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney Harbour, at around 7am. The culprit was a BULL SHARK.

Less than a week later, a 2.5 metre GREAT WHITE SHARK almost tore off Glenn Orgias's hand while he was surfing at Bondi around 8pm. His hand could not be re-attached.

Now SHARKS ARE BACK. But the thing is, they've never really been away.

In March the Department of Primary Industries tagged over 55 SHARKS in NSW to trace their movements. The newspaper story is mostly about a tagged BULL SHARK that recently spent quality time in Sydney's waterways.

From March 24 to April 4, the '2.47m menace' travelled more than 300km around Sydney before heading out to sea. Interestingly, it cruised 230km during the night - when it would have been feeding.

If you know Sydney, you might be a little unnerved to learn the SHARK visited Abbotsford twice. That suburb is a long, winding way up the Parramatta River.

The SHARK also visited Manly twice.

My theory is the BULL SHARK did what a lot of Sydneysiders do - checked out the real estate, found it too expensive and headed north.

Headline idea: Smart SHARK attacks bull market