Viral shark attack video was likely faked, say shark experts

[Hydra009]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoHAf7VtIhA

"I can tell you for a fact, it was not a shark bite," expert George Burgess told the Palm Beach Post on Tuesday. "How it was inflicted is conjectural, but the main thing is, the injury is not a shark bite. It was a PR stunt, and it worked."

Others also have severe doubts about the video's authenticity. The owner of Florida Shark Diving said Cavalli wanted to make a video of a shark bite that would go "viral," and wanted his help, according to the newspaper.

"We immediately declined," Bryce Rohrer told the newspaper. "We are pro-shark, pro-wildlife, and want to show the importance of sharks, not villainize them."

Source

This pisses me off.  Besides lying, it paints a very deceptive and harmful picture of shark behavior.

From the video, it looks like she jumps in the water and almost immediately gets attacked by a lemon shark.  The take-away message is that these sharks are out to get you.  To be clear, sharks are dangerous predators like wolves and lions.  But unlike wolves and lions, they have historically had little contact with humans and are generally more interested in feeding on their traditional prey than humans.

Sharks aren't harmless.  In 2015, there were 98 shark attacks worldwide and 6 of them were fatal.  Out of all the people who got in the water that year, that's a very small figure.  You're far more likely to get struck by lightning than to get attacked by a shark.

And the majority of unprovoked shark attacks are from just three species - great white, tiger, and bull.  And that's out of over 480 species.  The vast majority do not attack humans.  The lemon shark is definitely in the later category, posing a minimal threat to humans.  It feeds at night and is very selective about its prey, both in terms of species and size.  This runs counter to the behavior alleged in the viral video.

Lastly, sharks are massacred by humans to the tune of 100 million per year.  Lemon sharks are classified as near threatened now because of this.  And they're the lucky ones.

People going into hysterics about sharks could potentially make this bad situation even worse.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

What a wussy.

[Mike Cl]

I'm going to be Presidential now--I'd like to grab her by the pussy! :)

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'm going to be Presidential now--I'd like to grab her by the pussy! :)

It was quite skillfully hidden, no large arrow pointing at it.

[SGOS]

It was quite skillfully hidden, no large arrow pointing at it.

I'd seen the video earlier, and I noticed that, too.

[Munch]

dumb bitch valley girl attention whore giving sharks a bad name.

[Shiranu]

I'm no expert on wounds other than my own, but that wound looks fake af. Shouldn't it still be bleeding like... 2 seconds after it happened?

[Hydra009]

I'm no expert besides from wounds other than my own, but that wound looks fake af. Shouldn't it still be bleeding like... 2 seconds after it happened?

Yes.  Not only did the camera conspicuously cut away when the bite happened, the alleged wound was a straight line while shark bites are typically semi-circular with multiple puncture wounds.

Looking back at the video, it's pretty clear that it's acting.  The reaction is canned (real people are often at a loss for words, don't react immediately, etc) and the alleged victim covers her face and laugh-sobs (a trick that novice actors usually employ).  It comes across as very inauthentic.

I'd bet good money that she wouldn't be able to produce medical records from the hospital.

[fencerider]

another B-movie director is born... or maybe there is a commercial fisherman behind the story.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well, now she's a famous bimbo.

[SGOS]

Well, now she's a famous bimbo.

I've often wondered how much income is generated from publicity stunts.  It must be measureable to some degree in order to justify doing them.

[Baruch]

I've often wondered how much income is generated from publicity stunts.  It must be measureable to some degree in order to justify doing them.

The last election was a huge publicity stunt ... all of them.  It is very remunerative ... just ask Obama.

[Mike Cl]

Well, now she's a famous bimbo.

She is a porn star who is now a tad bit more famous.  No publicity is bad publicity--as we learned again with drump. 

[Baruch]

She is a porn star who is now a tad bit more famous.  No publicity is bad publicity--as we learned again with drump.

Hillary's publicity wasn't so good for her ;-)

[aitm]

meh....could have been a nice slash,  I think its bs only cause at the last scene the gal conveniently uses her arm to help cover the bimbo's snatcheroo whilst her legs are all agap. That's just fuckin wrong!