Boat passengers witness shark attack

Cape Cod Times ^ | June 28, 2008 | By K.C. MYERS

[Capt. Tom]

Boat passengers witness shark attack June 28, 2008 CHATHAM — Fourteen passengers on a seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island.

The island, which is a national wildlife refuge, is home to hundreds of seals and also a favored feeding ground of several species of sharks.

Capt. Bob Littlefield is sure the shark he saw rip a seal in half yesterday afternoon was a great white.

"It was a quite a bloody mess," said Littlefield, who has been a captain on Cape Cod for 32 years.

Littlefield was steering a 42-foot, high-speed catamaran owned by Monomoy Island Excursions of Harwich Port on the ocean side of Monomoy, where hundreds of seals were sunning and swimming, when suddenly there was a commotion in the water.

Littlefield, who said he had always wanted to see a shark eat a seal, turned the boat toward the area, which quickly became red with blood. As the boat got closer, the shark went under, taking half of the gray seal with it. The tour captain estimated the seal to be 300 to 400 pounds, and the shark to be between 14 and 16 feet.

[Capt. Tom]

I just wrote and article for a New England fishing magazine on Makos, and am working on one for white sharks in the Massachusetts area, which would be printed in the winter. If people read it during the summer they might over react. - Tom

[webheart]

Sharks need to eat, too.

[shekkian]

The shark is really asking for a lawsuit.

[Krankor]

Littlefield, who said he had always wanted to see a shark eat a seal,

As Winston Churchill said (borrowed for Daniel Burnham) "Make no small plans"

[stainlessbanner]

Chief Brody, paging Brody

[EyeGuy]

Did the shark first secure the proper permits and Flesh Credits from the appropriate commissar in the federal government?

[stravinskyrules]

Flesh Credits ..

Good one.

[patton]

I think you need a bigger boat.

[wendy1946]

Simple solution to that sort of problem (45/70)...

[Oatka]

Fourteen passengers on a seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island.

I wonder if any of them were Nature-loving types, out to see Mother nature at work -- and got an eyeful of reality.

[BenLurkin]

A seal?

Hah ha!

[lowbridge]

The shark is really asking for a lawsuit.

Sharks dont get lawsuits. They give them.

[DogBarkTree]

I wonder if any of them were Nature-loving types, out to see Mother nature at work -- and got an eyeful of reality. You mean penguins dont really tap dance? Oh the humanity.

[Mr. Jazzy]

“That’s some bad hat, Harry.”

[theDentist]

(Sniff...) That seal was my chum!

[Grammy]

Nature happens.

[abb]

“I’m not talking about treasure boating or game sailing. I’m talking about sharking.”

[Wil H]

Fourteen passengers on a seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island.

Better they witness this normal act of nature than have to watch the naked gays buggering each other in the dunes further down the coastline.

[snarks_when_bored]

(Sniff...) That seal was my chum!

Hmmm, I thought chum was usually made from ground-up fish parts rather than seal...

[TexasCajun]

You’re gonna need a bigger boat Capt. Tom !