Thursday, July 16, 2009

No story - just a few words and an image...

Click on image to enlarge

As I was selecting a few photographs for an Ukranian photography magazine, I came across this image I had completely overlooked before. I thought I should digitalize the negative and share it as I believe the photograph conveys the indescribable grace of the mighty tiger sharks.

Very few people understand these awesome creatures; I would dare to say that only those few who had the privilege to dive and interact with them have a notion of their true nature. All others have almost worthless second hand knowledge about them. Even shark researchers who 'just' study tiger sharks but don't do proper field work (= dive with these majestic animals) simply don't know them.

Take George Burgess, a shark "expert" who has no clue about tiger sharks; however, he repeats what everybody else says: "Tiger sharks are the most dangerous sharks next to the great whites and the bull sharks - blah, blah, blah..." - yet, the Discovery Channel and the media consider Burgess an undisputed authority when it comes to shark attacks.

Tiger sharks are probably less understood than great white sharks. That is why the majority of people really don't mind seeing those redneck shark angler hooligans of the oceans killing and proudly displaying tiger sharks hung up by their tails. Invariably, to justify their murderous 'sport' these idiots sheepishly say that these sharks are "man eaters" that deserve to be 'neutralized'.

As one of those primitive shark hunters put it recently in an interview: "Only a dead shark is a good shark".

Isn't that what was being commonly said about Indians during the not so glorious conquest of the West in the nineteenth century?...

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