MAN-EATING SHARKS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 12188, 8 June 1907, Page 7

MAN-EATING SHARKS.

Ouo ot the ii&hing oxpnts ol New Snuth Wales is collecting data on the subject ol tbe man-eating bharkj. ol Australia, li,immunity that »nrf bitliern have »nioyc-d during the swimming season just eudiiitf has suggested t-o him the theory that tl.c man-eating species is a distinct one. Grey nurses and *iger sharks arc the sort most frequently found round the Australian coast, and the expert's theory ia that they do not attack men. As far as he has been able to gather, moat of the fatalities from shark bites have occurred in rivers and estuaries, and not on the ocean beaches, and he thinks that the specimen ot shark that attacks awimmers is a descendant ol the monster that haunts the River Gauges, where ho has acquired an instinct tor human flash, having been in times pu9t fid on dead and often live bodies of unfortunate sacrificial victims. The expert admit* that he requires a good deal of evidence to establish his theory. The fact of surf bath.ers not having- been 6eized by sharks during the current season, which has witnef^ed the introduction ot the paatime, is due to the habit sharks have, of avoiding breakera, which cause a swirl of sand in tbe water, but that bathers would be eafo in the vicinity of «hoal3 of (sp-ey nurses .and tiger sharks in clear water is a proposition that would require absolute demonstration before the swimming lraternity *onld dream of acting upon it.