Oz swimmers warned about monster shark on the prowl
Shark News
Shark estimated to be a 20 footer
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 October, 2009 : - - Swimmers were warned that a monster shark was prowling off a popular Australian beach, one that nearly bit a 10-foot great white shark in half last week, London's Daily Mail reported. Based on the bite marks, experts say the larger shark must be twice its victim's size.
The smaller - relatively speaking - great white was hooked on a baited drum line when it was attacked, and was still alive when it was hauled onto a boat off north Stradbroke Island in Queensland. The fatally wounded shark was found just a few miles away from the island's popular beaches, a haven for surfers and bathers.
"That cannibal thing is what great whites do; they'll eat anything, including their own kind," Hugh Edwards, a local shark expert, told Australia's 7 News. "It would be sensible not to swim in that area for a little while."
Though shark attacks worldwide dipped from 71 to 59 between 2007 and 2008, according to the International Shark Attack File, and few of them were attributed to great whites, the large shark had been vilified even before Steven Spielberg's 1975 thriller.
Speculation is that this "Jaws"-sized shark has been lured to the area by the rotting carcuses of three whales that were trapped in anti-shark netting surrounding the Queensland coast. But Queensland Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin told Australia's Courier Mail that the grisly find shows why those nets were still essential.
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