Great White Lunges At Cage Divers And Gets Stuck In Bars

Story ByAna LacasaSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyCentral European News 


Video Credit: CEN/@arturooislas

This is the moment a great white shark lunges at four divers in a cage but gets stuck in between the bars where it begins bleeding profusely before its lifeless corpse sinks.

The scene was shared by Mexican activist Arturo Islas Allende and was recorded at Guadalupe Island, in the north-western Mexican state of Baja California.

Allende says the area is considered “the most important great white shark sanctuary on the planet” and in the video, the huge shark (Carcharodon carcharias), which is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, can be seen approaching the cage with at least four divers inside.

Picture Credit: CEN/@arturooislas

The shark swims up to the cage at speed but gets caught between the bars.

The huge animal begins thrashing and blood quickly appears from around its gills. A second clip shows the shark’s motionless body dropping from the cage into the depths.

Local media report the shark was reportedly caught in the bars for 25 minutes but Islas Allende says “nobody did anything”.

The shark reportedly died in the incident and Allende lamented the situation as the “great white shark is an animal that is protected under international laws”.

He added that the culprit of the death of the shark was Mike Lever, a Canadian businessman and owner of the ship ‘Nautilus’.

Picture Credit: CEN/@arturooislas

He claims that shark cages were changed years ago so that the bars were tighter together to prevent the animals from being able to swim in between them.

Allende wrote: “This guy did not want to change the cages, he has been told to do so since 2017, and he never changed them, until this happened. He is the only person responsible for the death of this great white shark and he also put the divers at risk.”

The activist also commented that he will sue the Canadian businessman so that he “never has permission” and to “pressure the authorities” to remove “any kind of permission in Mexican waters”.

Islas Allende said to Mike Lever “you knew that your cages were not okay and today you killed a great white shark”.

The company said in a press statement that the accident took place on 9th October and was “totally extraordinary,” involving a great white shark that was“strangely aggressive, attacking one of the cages used by our company to dive at Guadalupe Island”.

According to Nautilus, great white sharks do not usually behave violently and it was the first case that they have suffered in more than 16 years of experience.

They said the trip was done with the company of the regulator of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas, Beatriz Guadalupe Torres Gonzalez, who verified that the ship was following the current law and has been granted all the permissions relating to the preservation of the great white shark.

According to the company, the activist acted in bad faith to “generate misinformation and cheat audiences”, as in the moment of the accident the shark was released as soon as possible.

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