After lunging at divers in a metal cage, a great white shark caught its head and died from internal bleeding.
Video shot in October 2019 at Guadalupe Island in the northwest Mexican state of Baja California depicts the shark lunging at four divers before it bleeds profusely and eventually sinks motionless into the ocean.
Great White Shark Dies After Being Trapped in Diver's Cage Bars
After an early assertion that the shark swam away after releasing itself, Mexican environmental activist Arturo Islas Allende published a video of the horrific episode.
Throughout the video, the sad animal can be seen trying to free itself for up to 25 minutes before succumbing to blood loss and plunging to the dark depths below.
The footage shows a giant shark, categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (per Albawaba), approaching a cage with at least four divers inside it suspended from the diving boat "Nautilus."
The shark approaches the cage quickly but is caught in the bars.
To free itself, the enormous beast thrashes against the metal wires, and blood ooze from its gills.
According to Nautilus Dive Adventures, their cages met Mexican legal requirements. In October, after their 2019 season, a great white shark repeatedly charged one of their cages at Guadalupe Island.
"We were horrified, very sad, upset and worried for both the shark and our divers," Nautilus Dive Adventures wrote in their Facebook post.
They stated that since 2003, when they started operating these programs, they had organized over 50,000 white shark dives a year.
While acknowledging their role in the unfortunate incident, they made it clear that the cages complied fully with all Mexican regulations.
The group likewise assured that they modified the cages to prevent this from happening again.
Cages May Endanger Sharks, Experts Say
According to Daily Star, there are worries that the sharks in the cages are in danger since coming in touch with the bars might hurt them or change their behavior.
Mirror also pointed out that sharks, like the cruelly trapped one in the diver's cage, "play a crucial role at the top of the marine food chain."
An outright ban on diving cages used to observe sharks was enacted in New Zealand in 2018 due partly to incidents like these.
Shark diving is a popular form of tourism in locations where the animal is widespread, such as off the coast of California, but it has come under fire for the potential risk it poses to the animals.
Based on a 2018 research, sharks can sustain injuries when they come into contact with cages, and this could affect how they behave. There are also worries about whether the area's high levels of tourists are harmful to the marine species there
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