Saturday, January 28, 2006

Sharks; the new "terrorists"?

According to a journalist writing in today's NZ Herald, "A 'monster' white shark in the Manukau Harbour could be the same one that has terrorised people along the Taranaki coast - but experts say it is impossible to tell."

My comprehension of "terrorise" is to coerce with terror. But isn't the shark just doing what sharks do? Swimming around. Although he might fill people with fear it isn't his intent. And the woman boatie featured on last night's TV3 news didn't seem to be "terrorised". She urged her husband to try and get closer to the shark, despite it being as long as their boat. He was, understandably, a little less keen.

2 comments:

Oswald Bastable said...

My response would be to shove the throttle as far as it would go and hope that the boat was faster than Jaws!

Anonymous said...

Sharks such as the great white are interested in seals and attack swimming humans because they mistake them for seals. They are part of nature and keep the seal population in check, which in turn means more fish for fishermen because seals are major predators of fish. They are not known to attack boats, except in the movies.