The guy in the centre of this picture is CJ Wickersham, a recreational spear fisher who wound up in the news (and in hospital) after a bull shark attacked and almost bit off his leg. Even though it was a truamatic wound, requiring had to get about 800 stitches, he said he has no hard feelings against the shark.
Wickersham is luckier than Michael Cohen, a Canadian who has lost his leg and is fighting for his life after a great white attack in South Africa.
Shark attacks do happen. They are, however, rare and any conservationist will tell you that we are a far greater threat to their species (through unsustainable fishing and horrific "finning" to serve the shark fin soup market) than they are to ours.
Nonetheless, there is absolutely no call for this:
According to AdFreak, PETA is fruitlessly attempting to get this billboard posted in the vicinity of where the Wickersham attack took place.
Yes, this kind of asshattery gets them in the news. But it is also what polarizes people like me, who are empathetic towards animal welfare, against them. The jerks.
Sharks must be pretty vengeful if they go around biting people that have probably never even thought about eating one just because maybe a few people eat shark. Cows are a lot nicer. Practically everyone eats cow, and you don't see THEM attacking people all over the place and getting their own week on the Discovery Channel.
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