Annals of Personal Irresponsibility–Shark Justice…Almost: So here’s the scene. Two New Zealand divers go spear fishing in shark infested waters. They nail some fish and then, without much thought, spear a 10-foot shark to keep it from going after their haul. They’re pretty proud of themselves. But what should they do with the carcass? There’s blood in the water. Better drag the dead beast up onto a nearby jumble of rocks. And better do it fast because other sharks are starting to arrive on the scene and seem to be getting a little..bit..frenzied. So up they go, like seals, dragging the dead shark with them. But now what? They are 200 meters from shore, lots and lots of other sharks are circling the rock, and…ooops…the tide is coming up and looks set to cover their safe perch in a few hours. They’re doomed.

Well, it’s quite a picture, a cautionary tale about thinking ahead and piscine justice. But luckily–very luckily–these two hunters-turned-hunted happen to get the attention of some people on shore with wild, panicked gesticulations. The beachgoers think the shark carcass is a human in trouble and call in the emergency services. A helicopter is dispatched and arrives just in time to avert a nasty final act. “We could see [the sharks] from the air. Their fins were going round (the rock). It was like something out of a horror movie,” reports one of the helicopter crew. Rescue ensues. Lesson learned? Who knows, the two divers made themselves “unavailable for comment.” I guess that’s better than the sharks making them unavailable for comment. But it’s another case of stupidity in the wild without consequence. Imagine how differently we would venture into nature if there was no prospect of being bailed out when we make mistakes. Read the full story here and judge for yourself….



Frustrated Finner: “F*cking helicopter. We had those two plonkers SO dead to rights…”