'Disgusting!': Video of two men dragging and stabbing live blacktip shark met with backlash
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLORIDA: A video of two men dragging and stabbing a little shark has gone viral on social media. The unsettling video has been viewed more than 130,000 times since it was initially posted by journalist Louis Aguirre. In the now viral clip, two men are seen dragging a black-tip shark onto the beach in New Smyrna as a woman films them and urges them to stop.
The woman can be heard urging the men to put the shark back in the sea, arguing they shouldn't be inflicting such cruelty on animals. The aquatic creature can be seen thrashing around on the sand. A short while later, one of the men produces a knife, and the woman pleads, "Please do not do anything to it." She is then told the shark was ‘legal harvest,’ according to Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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The woman can be heard pleading with the man wielding the knife to stop before he stabs the shark in the head. The person who was attacking the shark claims, "This is natural,” and the woman asks, "Are you enjoying this?" The man replies, "Nah, I'm taking it to eat and feed my family." Finally, the man attempts to cut open the shark's head as the video ends. The clip was shared widely and the man's actions were met with widespread outrage online.
Aguirre wrote in the post, "The worst of humanity on full display folks. I am speechless… this is the world we live in. Very sad there are those who take pleasure in watching another living creature suffer so. This was a black tip shark. Completely legal and harvestable. Madness. We’re killing over 70 million sharks a year worldwide. Our global shark population doesn’t stand a chance if this continues. A healthy ocean needs a healthy shark population. If the sharks die, the oceans die. Plain and simple. We need more shark awareness and education, and better laws to protect our sharks. Being a shark lover, I feel I just witnessed someone killing an amazing creature for absolutely no reason.”
Echoing Aguirre’s words, one user wrote in the comments section, "Cowards. They wouldn't try that if it was in the water." "Can't watch this! This is so disgusting!!! Needs to go on the news and someone needs to identify these people!” another added. Someone wrote, "This is absolutely disgusting and difficult to watch. Monsters.” “This needs to be investigated. Inhumane and unnecessary torture of our wildlife must be stopped,” another user remarked.