Scientists find mutilated shark's carcass
2 November 2008, 07:55
A suspicious death on a remote coastline, a mutilated carcass and an anonymous tipoff.
One shark's tale which played out in False Bay this week had all the drama and intrigue of a Hollywood epic, except in this case, the victim was a 4,6m great white shark named Henry.
He was spotted in the surf at Macassar early last Saturday, but by the time Marine and Coastal Management officials arrived on the scene, his head and fins had been hacked off.
What led to his death is still baffling scientists, dismayed to discover he was a shark they had identified a few years back.
Alison Kock, a marine biologist at the Save Our Seas Shark Centre in Kalk Bay, says her first encounter with Henry was in 2005 at Seal Island and again in August.
Sharks are catalogued, and these numbers can get quite long, so some of the bigger animals are given nicknames which reflect their personalities and behaviour.
"You don't see many over 4 metres like Henry. He was a very confident animal and spent quite a bit of time around our boat."
Kock was convinced the shark had fallen victim to trophy hunters who had taken the jaw and teeth to trade on the black market, where they fetch thousands of dollars.
Two days later, she received an anonymous tipoff from one of the culprits.
"He was a fisherman who said he'd come across the animal and thought it would be nice to have the teeth. He didn't know it was wrong and sounded genuinely sorry."
But she points out that if someone comes across a dead elephant in a game park, they wouldn't simply hack off the tusks.
She says the carcass is valuable from a scientific point of view.
Mutilating a protected animal also makes it difficult to distinguish whether it has been killed or died of natural causes.
South Africa was the first country in the world to protect sharks in 1991 but they are still being targeted. Killing one could get you a R50 000 fine or two years' imprisonment. - Helen Bamford
One shark's tale which played out in False Bay this week had all the drama and intrigue of a Hollywood epic, except in this case, the victim was a 4,6m great white shark named Henry.
He was spotted in the surf at Macassar early last Saturday, but by the time Marine and Coastal Management officials arrived on the scene, his head and fins had been hacked off.
What led to his death is still baffling scientists, dismayed to discover he was a shark they had identified a few years back.
Alison Kock, a marine biologist at the Save Our Seas Shark Centre in Kalk Bay, says her first encounter with Henry was in 2005 at Seal Island and again in August.
Sharks are catalogued, and these numbers can get quite long, so some of the bigger animals are given nicknames which reflect their personalities and behaviour.
"You don't see many over 4 metres like Henry. He was a very confident animal and spent quite a bit of time around our boat."
Kock was convinced the shark had fallen victim to trophy hunters who had taken the jaw and teeth to trade on the black market, where they fetch thousands of dollars.
Two days later, she received an anonymous tipoff from one of the culprits.
"He was a fisherman who said he'd come across the animal and thought it would be nice to have the teeth. He didn't know it was wrong and sounded genuinely sorry."
But she points out that if someone comes across a dead elephant in a game park, they wouldn't simply hack off the tusks.
She says the carcass is valuable from a scientific point of view.
Mutilating a protected animal also makes it difficult to distinguish whether it has been killed or died of natural causes.
South Africa was the first country in the world to protect sharks in 1991 but they are still being targeted. Killing one could get you a R50 000 fine or two years' imprisonment. - Helen Bamford
- This article was originally published on page 9 of The Star on November 01, 2008
Cape Town
