Quote:
Originally Posted by cappyjon431
This might be slightly off topic (and if so, the mods are welcome to remove it), but I just remembered a very significant personal experience that demonstrates exactly why it is a bad idea to feed wild animals.
When I was younger (and for almost 20 years), I worked as a dive guide/dive instructor. My first job in the dive industry was leading groups of divers in the Bahamas. Once a week (every Wednesday) we would do a shark feed dive. Divers would kneel on the bottom with their backs to a coral ledge and watch as a chum ball (frozen fish) was lowered from a skiff. The sharks would come in, feed, put on a great show for the divers, and then leave. We would escort the divers safely back to the boat. I loved this experience and thought it was one of the greatest jobs ever.
We did this feed every week and never had a diver bitten or even threatened. By doing the feed every week the sharks' behavior began to change. They soon (after a couple of months of doing weekly feedings) began associating our boat's engine noise with food and began congregating before we even had the divers or the food in the water. This was still not a problem. The divers loved it and I thought it was an awesome experience. I didn't realize at the time that changing their behavior in this way would have dire consequences.
After a few months of doing the dives, we had to bring the boat from the Bahamas to Miami for our annual maintenance in the shipyard and our Coast Guard inspection. We left the Bahamas for a month.
When we returned and wanted to begin doing our shark feed again, we noticed that our engine noise no longer attracted the dozens of sharks that normally showed up. When we put the divers in the water and dropped the chum, we saw no sharks. They had mysteriously disappeared. We thought that perhaps since they were not being fed regularly maybe they forgot about the feeds. Until we spoke to a local islander and found out that since a group of local fishermen knew that sharks were regularly attracted to our shark feed spot, they thought it would be sporting to go out and catch and kill dozens of sharks in a single afternoon. It was a senseless slaughter and I was devastated. I felt (and rightly so) that I was partly to blame. Afterall, if we didn't draw the sharks to that area regularly, it would not have been possible to annihilate all those sharks in such a short time. I loved watching the sharks, thier sleek, majestic movement through the water will always be etched in my mind. Our divers loved seeing them as well. Now they were gone, and it was mainly due to our changing the sharks' natural behavior.
The company wanted to resume shark feeding off a different island, as the feeds were immensely popular with our guests. I strongly objected. When they resumed the feeds I had to find a different job, because I couldn't stomach being responsible for a replay.
I know that I am probably being overly passionate about urging people to avoid feeding wild animals, but it is something I feel very strongly about. Now ya'll know why. I'll get off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.
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I'm sorry that you had to deal with that and I can feel in your words how much this hurt you. Thank you so much for posting this story.
I wasn't trying to make a point one way or the other as to if the poster should or shouldn't anything, I think you understand that. However, after reading this story, I will certainly think twice about feeding ANYTHING other then myself!
Thank you!
