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How To Avoid A Shark Attack

The best of days can easily be turned upside-down and inside-out when you add the ocean. Swimming, surfing, scuba diving – whatever it is – hearing ‘be careful’ always sends up a red flag for me. To me it means there’s possible danger coming and that I need to be very aware of my surroundings. Don’t get me wrong, the ocean isn’t a giant killer waiting for innocent victims- but it can and has been very dangerous. Since there are numerous things to be careful of in the ocean; let’s stick to sharks.

Why They Attack:

• “Oops, you’re not a seal… mmm… I’ll eat you anyway.” From below, when they’re seeking their meals, they can only see silhouettes of the bodies above. From the pictures to the right, I think you can understand why. Now, while you’re comparing these too pictures you may be thinking, “Oh come on! It’s like so obvious which one’s the seal and which one’s the person,” which is true, but you’re no shark and any person is most likely much, much smarter than a shark.
• “Oooooh! SHINY! FISH SCALES! LOOKS LIKE DINNER!! I’M GONNA GO CATCH THAT ! ” *10 seconds later* “OH NO!! IT WAS A LADY’S JEWELRY! Ehh well let’s not waste her.” Now of course this isn’t exactly possible, and I’m not quite sure that shark’s can even think the way we do. But they still make mistakes.
• “Blooooooooood. I SMELL BLOOOOOOOOD. I MUST KNOW WHERE THIS BLOOOOOD ISSSSSSS! ” Sharks have an extremely sensitive sense of smell (say that 5 times fast!) in which they can smell the scent of blood from miles and miles away. For a funny little bit of an example of this, try watching Finding Nemo. The part where the sharks have their little ‘Fish are friends, not food ‘ seminar in the sunken plane in the middle of the minefield.
• And why else do they attack? Hungry, maybe. Possibly desperate for food? Who knows. Guess we’ll just have to wait until we come across a family of talking sharks.

Tips:

• Never wear jewelry into the water. Because:: Sharks could easily mistake them for fish scales A.K.A. prey. My advice? Find a log or tree stump or boulder to set your belongings so that waves can’t sweep them away.
• Never go into the water at dusk or dawn. These two times are main feeding times for sharks and is when they are most active. +Plus, do you really want to be swimming when it’s that dark anyway? Probably not.

• Never go into the water when you’re bleeding. If there’s no sharks in sight now, given 5 minutes I’m sure you’ll notice that that’ll change.

Before I go any further, I want to make note that your chances of being attacked are very minute and that you have a better chance of being struck by lightening, winning the lottery, or even drowning. And the chances of those happening are very slim as well.

• Never swim alone. One target is much easier to take down than a group (who’d be working together). Also, if you don’t have a buddy with you and you do encounter trouble, who’s going to get you help? Without immediate help you could suffer deeply from blood loss.

• Though splashing can be fun and entertaining, it can attract sharks… not something we want. Or maybe try splashing around in water that is extremely shallow – say, a couple inches? If that – and  then avoiding going any deeper because of potential sharks already in the area. Yelling is also a no-no.

• Last of all, avoid swimming in sand bars, drop-offs, and river mouths. These are common shark grounds where people are often attacked at. Not to mention fishing grounds, but that’s an obvious one. Also, try wearing a non-flashy bathing suit. Bright colors can easily resemble fish scales and again, not something we want.

Unless you want this, this, or this to be you, follow these guidelines. Beware, some of these pictures are graphic, so ask before clicking on the link.

Tags: animal attacks, animal safety, dangerous animals, scuba diving, sharks