Post by LSDeep on Jun 29, 2005 8:05:00 GMT -5
Florida officials fear another "Summer of the Shark" media frenzy
BY JOHN KENNEDY AND JASON GARCIA
The Orlando Sentinel
CAPE SAN BLAS, Fla. - (KRT) - Two shark attacks in three days along the Florida Panhandle left scientists and tourism officials struggling Tuesday to fend off fears that another "Summer of the Shark" was dawning.
In 2001, a spate of gruesome shark attacks in Florida sparked a worldwide media frenzy. But by summer's end, it became clear that the actual number of shark attacks was running slightly below average. Then the truly frightening story of September 11 broke, and the sensational treatment of shark bites was widely panned as an overreaction.
But fast-forward to Summer 2005, and conditions are ripe for a similar pattern to emerge. Florida might be just one shark bite away from another frenzy, scientists fear.
"I'm not saying these two shark attacks are not news," said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. "But each year we have 30 or so shark attacks in a year. This weekend's attacks were numbers seven and eight. The year is half over. You know we're going to have more."
At Cape San Blas, where on Monday a shark critically injured Craig Adam Hutto, 16, of Lebanon, Tenn., a handful of vacationing families ignored dreary skies and drizzling rain to wade gingerly back into the water after authorities reopened the beaches.
No one, however, wandered into water much deeper than their ankles.
"We'd go back in waist deep. We wouldn't go back to the sandbar," said Clive Veri, a 41-year-old banker from Joplin, Mo., referring to the sandbar Craig was fishing from when he was attacked. "We didn't drive 1,200 miles to not play in the water."
Craig's right leg had to be amputated by doctors, who operated on the teenager again Tuesday to clean up the area around the wound. He was reported in stable condition at Panama City's Bay Medical Center.
On Saturday, 14-year-old Jamie Marie Daigle of Gonzales, La., died from her injuries after her left leg was mutilated by a 6-foot bull shark about 100 miles away, near Destin, Fla.
Shark experts downplayed the timing of the attacks, calling it a highly unusual coincidence.
"There is not a trend here," said Bob Hueter, director of the world's largest shark-research center, at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. "Sure, both these attacks apparently involved bull sharks, 6-feet to 8-feet long, that are usually very aggressive ... But, unfortunately, what we saw was some very bad luck."
Doctors said it was too early to tell if Craig suffered any brain damage from blood loss. In 2001, a 9-year-old Mississippi boy, Jesse Arbogast, suffered severe brain damage from blood loss when a shark ripped off his arm while he swam near Pensacola, Fla.
Jesse's injury was perhaps the most shocking attack that year and became a focal point of media coverage, underscored by a Time magazine cover that trumpeted the "Summer of the Shark."
The already poor reputation of sharks has worsened since then. A 2003 survey by the National Aquarium in Baltimore showed 70 percent of Americans believed sharks are dangerous and that most think there are too many of them, although some shark populations in fact are shrinking.
"These attacks call up a primal fear in people," said Pamela Shoemaker, a professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University. "The media also is going to seize on the story because it is a statistical deviant. Basically, that means something totally unexpected. People go swimming all the time, and they don't get attacked by sharks."
Burgess said he has been flooded with interview requests from news outlets across the nation and Europe. On Monday, he said he received 80 calls in just four hours, as TV news choppers buzzed the beaches in search of more sharks.
By early Tuesday, reporters, photographers and camera crews outnumbered beachgoers at Cape San Blas.
"These were dramatic attacks," Burgess conceded. "But if the media focus continues on every little ankle-biter attack from here on, that's going to be a problem for Florida."
The state averaged about 30 attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but had only 12 last year. Burgess attributed the drop to the four hurricanes that hit Florida last year, keeping beach visitors away.
With the Fourth of July weekend approaching, Florida tourist officials also are scrambling to get word out that state waters are still safe for visitors.
Pam Dana, director of the state's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, said officials are considering posting tips on avoiding shark attacks on the state's www.VisitFlorida.com and www.MyFlorida.com Web sites, an approach used during the 2001 summer season.
"This has been a serious tragedy for these families, and our hearts go out to these folks," Dana said. "But we want to make sure that the word gets out so other visitors can minimize their risks."
In Gulf County, which relies heavily on its 43-mile coastline to keep itself afloat economically, leaders moved quickly to soothe any lingering fears from the attack.
The region's scallop season starts Friday, and tourism officials are counting on the population to nearly quadruple.
Deputies, police officers and volunteer firefighters were handing out fliers with nearly a dozen tips on how to avoid sharks, said Paula Ramsey Pickett, the tourist development director here.
The first line reminded readers, "The relative risk of a shark attack is very small."
But, Pickett conceded, "Most people's experience with sharks is what they've seen in Jaws."
At the Cape San Blas Inn, a five-room bed and breakfast and the only hotel on the narrow spit of land reaching into the gulf, innkeeper Sharon Morton said she wasn't worried. The area has survived bad luck and bad press before, for everything from riptides to hurricanes, she said.
"Nobody's picked up the phone and said, `I'm not coming because of the shark,'" she said. "It's going to die down, just like anything else."
But not every visitor thought the attacks would be so easily forgotten. Cheryl Roberts, a 52-year-old retiree from Owensboro, Ky., has visited a Panhandle beach almost every year for two decades. She doesn't think she'll do so again.
Roberts wasn't far from the spot on the shore where rescuers had to fight to keep Craig alive. She said Tuesday that she can still remember vividly the boy's blood in the water, pooling like a red oil slick.
"This is the last year," Roberts said. "We're not coming back."
---
© 2005, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at www.orlandosentinel.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
BY JOHN KENNEDY AND JASON GARCIA
The Orlando Sentinel
CAPE SAN BLAS, Fla. - (KRT) - Two shark attacks in three days along the Florida Panhandle left scientists and tourism officials struggling Tuesday to fend off fears that another "Summer of the Shark" was dawning.
In 2001, a spate of gruesome shark attacks in Florida sparked a worldwide media frenzy. But by summer's end, it became clear that the actual number of shark attacks was running slightly below average. Then the truly frightening story of September 11 broke, and the sensational treatment of shark bites was widely panned as an overreaction.
But fast-forward to Summer 2005, and conditions are ripe for a similar pattern to emerge. Florida might be just one shark bite away from another frenzy, scientists fear.
"I'm not saying these two shark attacks are not news," said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. "But each year we have 30 or so shark attacks in a year. This weekend's attacks were numbers seven and eight. The year is half over. You know we're going to have more."
At Cape San Blas, where on Monday a shark critically injured Craig Adam Hutto, 16, of Lebanon, Tenn., a handful of vacationing families ignored dreary skies and drizzling rain to wade gingerly back into the water after authorities reopened the beaches.
No one, however, wandered into water much deeper than their ankles.
"We'd go back in waist deep. We wouldn't go back to the sandbar," said Clive Veri, a 41-year-old banker from Joplin, Mo., referring to the sandbar Craig was fishing from when he was attacked. "We didn't drive 1,200 miles to not play in the water."
Craig's right leg had to be amputated by doctors, who operated on the teenager again Tuesday to clean up the area around the wound. He was reported in stable condition at Panama City's Bay Medical Center.
On Saturday, 14-year-old Jamie Marie Daigle of Gonzales, La., died from her injuries after her left leg was mutilated by a 6-foot bull shark about 100 miles away, near Destin, Fla.
Shark experts downplayed the timing of the attacks, calling it a highly unusual coincidence.
"There is not a trend here," said Bob Hueter, director of the world's largest shark-research center, at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. "Sure, both these attacks apparently involved bull sharks, 6-feet to 8-feet long, that are usually very aggressive ... But, unfortunately, what we saw was some very bad luck."
Doctors said it was too early to tell if Craig suffered any brain damage from blood loss. In 2001, a 9-year-old Mississippi boy, Jesse Arbogast, suffered severe brain damage from blood loss when a shark ripped off his arm while he swam near Pensacola, Fla.
Jesse's injury was perhaps the most shocking attack that year and became a focal point of media coverage, underscored by a Time magazine cover that trumpeted the "Summer of the Shark."
The already poor reputation of sharks has worsened since then. A 2003 survey by the National Aquarium in Baltimore showed 70 percent of Americans believed sharks are dangerous and that most think there are too many of them, although some shark populations in fact are shrinking.
"These attacks call up a primal fear in people," said Pamela Shoemaker, a professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University. "The media also is going to seize on the story because it is a statistical deviant. Basically, that means something totally unexpected. People go swimming all the time, and they don't get attacked by sharks."
Burgess said he has been flooded with interview requests from news outlets across the nation and Europe. On Monday, he said he received 80 calls in just four hours, as TV news choppers buzzed the beaches in search of more sharks.
By early Tuesday, reporters, photographers and camera crews outnumbered beachgoers at Cape San Blas.
"These were dramatic attacks," Burgess conceded. "But if the media focus continues on every little ankle-biter attack from here on, that's going to be a problem for Florida."
The state averaged about 30 attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but had only 12 last year. Burgess attributed the drop to the four hurricanes that hit Florida last year, keeping beach visitors away.
With the Fourth of July weekend approaching, Florida tourist officials also are scrambling to get word out that state waters are still safe for visitors.
Pam Dana, director of the state's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, said officials are considering posting tips on avoiding shark attacks on the state's www.VisitFlorida.com and www.MyFlorida.com Web sites, an approach used during the 2001 summer season.
"This has been a serious tragedy for these families, and our hearts go out to these folks," Dana said. "But we want to make sure that the word gets out so other visitors can minimize their risks."
In Gulf County, which relies heavily on its 43-mile coastline to keep itself afloat economically, leaders moved quickly to soothe any lingering fears from the attack.
The region's scallop season starts Friday, and tourism officials are counting on the population to nearly quadruple.
Deputies, police officers and volunteer firefighters were handing out fliers with nearly a dozen tips on how to avoid sharks, said Paula Ramsey Pickett, the tourist development director here.
The first line reminded readers, "The relative risk of a shark attack is very small."
But, Pickett conceded, "Most people's experience with sharks is what they've seen in Jaws."
At the Cape San Blas Inn, a five-room bed and breakfast and the only hotel on the narrow spit of land reaching into the gulf, innkeeper Sharon Morton said she wasn't worried. The area has survived bad luck and bad press before, for everything from riptides to hurricanes, she said.
"Nobody's picked up the phone and said, `I'm not coming because of the shark,'" she said. "It's going to die down, just like anything else."
But not every visitor thought the attacks would be so easily forgotten. Cheryl Roberts, a 52-year-old retiree from Owensboro, Ky., has visited a Panhandle beach almost every year for two decades. She doesn't think she'll do so again.
Roberts wasn't far from the spot on the shore where rescuers had to fight to keep Craig alive. She said Tuesday that she can still remember vividly the boy's blood in the water, pooling like a red oil slick.
"This is the last year," Roberts said. "We're not coming back."
---
© 2005, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at www.orlandosentinel.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
