Featured Image Credit: AFP / Getty Images via BBC News
By: Katharine Rose Fielding
Today, a fear of sharks seems almost ingrained in most people. When stepping foot in the ocean or dangling limbs off a boat or a surfboard, we likely think about what could be lurking beneath the surface.
Believe it or not, we didn’t always think this way.
In fact, 100 years ago (almost to the date), most scientists were convinced that it wasn’t possible for sharks to attack and kill humans. So what changed?
It started with a rather terrifying two weeks for oceanside residents of New Jersey.
On July 1, 1916, a group of men pulled the maimed body of 25-year-old Charles Vansant from the waters in front of a beachfront New Jersey hotel; he bled to death shortly after. Another young man, Charles Bruder, was found in a similar manner five days later.
Photo Credit: WPVI ActionNews Channel 6
Still, people were skeptical. Common consensus at the time agreed that it wasn’t possible for a shark to kill a human. We still thought of ourselves as number one on the food chain.
The week after the initial ocean attacks, a 10-year-old boy named Lester Stilwell was swimming in New Jersey’s Matawan creek with his friends. His friends claimed they saw a shark eat their friend alive.
The adults weren’t so sure. First, sharks didn’t eat people. Second, they don’t live in creeks!
However, when a search party entered the creek to look for the boy, a man named Watson Fisher was subsequently attacked and killed. Just a half hour after that attack, the shark bit the leg of another boy who was in the creek searching. Luckily, 14-year-old Joseph Dunn was saved in time.
Now residents were truly spooked.
“Four fatalities, five attacks in a 12-day period created such an atmosphere of fear and paranoia,” said Deb Whitcraft, Museum of New Jersey Maritime History.
The news of the string of attacks reached the White House and President Woodrow Wilson decided to give federal aid to “drive away all the ferocious man-eating sharks, which have been making prey of bathers,” as published in the July 14, 1916 Philadelphia Inquirer.
Photo Credit: Library of Congress via National Geographic
The locals of the Matawan Creek area took matters into their own hands, tossing dynamite into the creek. Eventually, they were able to pull out an 8-foot juvenile great white shark – one that had human remains still in its stomach.
After those two weeks of panic, the image of humans as the dominant species in any landscape was shattered. The fast-spreading fear of sharks spawned cultural icons such as Jaws, which further cemented sharks’ reputation as vicious man hunters.
While it’s good to have a healthy fear and respect for creatures that can easily kill us, humans also need to be reminded that there is no need for a witch-hunt to get rid of all sharks. On average, about 5 people per year are killed in shark attacks.
But for every human killed by a shark, two million sharks are killed by humans.
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That depressing statistic can hopefully be changed soon, with the recent backlash against culprits such as shark fin soup and with increased understanding and appreciation for these fearsome predators that are essential to the ecosystem.
So while there’s no need to panic next time you are preparing to take a dip in shark habitat, it doesn’t hurt to keep in mind that you are entering the home of a creature that has evolved specifically to take down easy prey such as humans!