Posted on 06/26/2005 11:08:43 AM PDT by Mongeaux
A teacher in Vanuatu says he twice warned the family of the New Zealand girl killed by a shark not to get into the water.
Lapen Tilison told the Weekend Herald from Atchin Island that he always warned visiting yachties to stay out of the water where 7-year-old Alysha Webster of Coromandel Peninsula was fatally bitten.
Mr Tilison had paddled out in a canoe to Alysha's parents' yacht just after it pulled into the attractive white, sandy bay where he lived, shortly before lunchtime on Wednesday.
"They had just dropped the anchor and jumped in for a swim," he said. "I went out and introduced myself and told them it was not safe to swim in the sea."
Mr Tilison said he made it clear that fishing boats came into the bay to wash down, and the strong smell attracted sharks.
A fishing boat was at the beach that day doing just that, he said.
"I told them not to swim because here we do not swim in the salt water. We swim in the fresh water, not on the beach."
Mr Tilison said he invited the family, from Whenuakite near Whitianga, to relax onshore instead.
He said there were local children in the water but they were close to shore where it was safe.
They got out of the water and had lunch, but afterwards went for another swim.
Mr Tilison said he went back to the boat to warn them again.
He heard Alysha ask her mother if she could go for a swim.
"Her mummy said, 'It's not safe' ... but she went for a swim ... after 10 minutes the shark attacked."
Mr Tilison, aged 40, said this was the fourth death he remembered, the last three years ago.
He had lived on Atchin Island all his life and had five children, who all knew not to swim in the sea.
"We are really, really down in our hearts because we told them not to swim."
Mr Tilison said just two days earlier locals saw a great white shark in the area. "It was a very big one ... they thought it was the same one."
About 1000 people lived on Atchin Island and the death had shocked the villagers, he said.
"We really mourn for that little girl because she died on our island, and we are very sorry for her."
A local tour operator on the mainland, Peter Fidelio, said tourists were always warned not to swim on Atchin Island.
"People here realise it's not safe."
The Lonely Planet guide warns visitors that Malekula's waters teem with sharks, especially along the east coast.
The shark attack has dominated the front page of Vanuatu's only daily newspaper, the Vanuatu Daily Post.
The Daily Post said the provincial Government planned to hold an emergency meeting to discuss setting up warning signs in the areas sharks were known to frequent.
- additional reporting: Elizabeth Binning in Port Vila
Ok I did a bit more digging: they are not absolutely certain the child was killed by a Great White. My apologies.
Sounds to me like the parents were given fair warning. The shark is gonna do what sharks have always done.
You'd only have to exterminate three or four species of sharks, and there's never be another shark attack on a human. "Scientists" would still have 297 species of the ****ing things to "study".
Why? Because it was hungry?
Morons. And it cost their baby her life.
I hope they are racked with life ruining guilt for the rest of their days.
That would have been a good time for a time out and reminder to mind her parents. It could have saved her life.
The water was practically chummed from the fishing boats waste. Sad.
The shark did exactly what sharks do. Attracted by the blood in the sea, the shark went looking for prey. To a shark, we look like a wounded seal.
The shark is stupid, and is a predator. The parents are somewhat educated, warned, and the situation was spelled out pretty clearly not only why, but how the danger presents itself. The parents chose to ignore the warnings, and they (not the shark) are at fault.
If I warn you that in Africa, there are lions about; and you shouldn't go into the bush with raw meat, and you do it anyway .... who's fault is it?
This is no different than letting a kid play with a hand grenade. The ocean is wilderness- there are dangerous things in it. The parents were warned. They should have watched the kid.
Ditto.
I dont care who is at fault, kill sharks who prey on people for whatever reason.
Yesterday a 14 year old died by shark bite in Florida also.
We must sue the island's fishing boat for attracting the shark's in the first place, instead of creating the bait which caused the shark to interfere with the tourist's lifestyle.
Secondly, we need to sue the government, as they clearly failed to protect bathers from sharks.
Thirdly, we need to sue the yacht manufacturor, as without the yacht, this poor girl would never have died.
Fourthly, we need to sue whatever developer created this attractive nuisance in the first place, as we know all children like to swim, and this place is no different than your neighborhood swimming pool, locked gate or not.
Fifthly, we need to sue the man who warned the family, as he clearly had knowledge of the dangers, but did not stick around to fight off the shark when it appeared.
Lastly, his "attempt" to warn may have been misinterpreted by his faulty english, so we will need to sue the local Catholic mission school and fault them for their poor teaching methods on language.
I know this is going to spoil your emotional high; but have you considered what that would do to the ocean's ecosystem? Sharks are at the top of the food chain for a reason.
Go to Africa, and exterminate the Lions; what do you suppose would happen?
On the other hand, if parents (whom one would hope would have the brains equal to, or greater than a Herring) would stop to think that sending a child in to swim in freshly 'chummed' water is probably a bad idea. Would these same idiots (appologies to the idiots of the world, as this demeans them) would send their 7 year daughter into the African bush with 10 lbs of fresh meat in her hands? It's the same thing. Parents with incredibly poor intelligence, and unusally high degrees of arrogance are now crying foul, from a situation that arose from their own stupidity.
Ah, but these folks were from New Zealand...
That is the country that declared themselves safe from all the hazzards in the world by declaring themselves a "Nuclear Free" zone....
You would think that folks from an Island nation, fortunate enough to own and sail on their own through the Pacific -- would have sense enough to LISTEN to the locals about the KNOWN hazzards of their waters...
STUPID PARENTS...
Semper Fi
And if you exterminate the human race, there'd never be another human attack on a human. Yes, exterminating entire species because people are to freaking insulated from the reality of nature to realize that when you enter the habitat of carnivorous predators you run certain risks is a really great solution to human stupidity.
That's ridiculous. This is 100% the parent's fault. They were repeatedly warned and chose to risk their child's life instead. It just goes to show how arrogant and irresponsible some people are. For the life of me, I can't imagine being a visitor to an area and not heeding the advice/warnings of the locals, especially concerning a life or death matter regarding my child! Why didn't they just hand the child a gun and let her play Russian roulette instead?
That's creepy.
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