Shark almost attacks boy in Lake (Photo)

[Angry Ewok]

From 'The Australian' :



IS this the tale of the one that got away?

The human, that is?

This chance photograph appears to capture teenager Chris Van Namen having a rather too close encounter with a large shark as he wakeboards on Lake Macquarie.

The picture, taken by his mother Martina Van Namen, as he rose from the water to stand on his wakeboard, appears to show a shark's menacing fin slicing through the water behind him.

In fact, Mr Van Namen is now convinced the shark was headed straight for him as he was being dragged through the water behind the boat, and he was only saved because he stood up just at the right moment.

Fortunately for Mr Van Namen, 18, at the time he was blissfully unaware of his brush with what is probably a large bull shark.

The photograph was not developed until a couple of weeks after the family outing on Lake Macquarie in late February.

"I was shocked when I saw the photograph," Mr Van Namen said.

The startling picture was taken within days of another photograph appearing in The Daily Telegraph of a shark swimming in Lake Macquarie.

The pictures were taken a few months apart in different locations of the lake, one of Australia's favourite recreational waterways.

As the number of sightings of the shark grows, Newcastle's former shark mesher Paul Grunsell said it was only a matter of time before someone was attacked.

"From the pictures, it looks like a seven or eight-foot (2.13m or 2.43m) shark," Mr Grunsell said.

"I'm hoping to put a proposal to Lake Macquarie City Council to net part of the lake and try and catch it."


Me being deathly afraid of sharks, this is like the scariest thing in the world... Just imagine seeing your kid almost attacked by a shark...  

[JediMAC]

Damn, that's sweet!  Thanks for the head's up Brad.  I love sharks!  Hopefully that's the real deal there, and not one of those fake, edited pix.  Looks pretty good to me!  

Would've been better if she actually got a picture of the shark munching on the kid, but oh well...  

 

[Mikey D]

Edit:  Apparently snopes doesn't like borrowing of pics.

I know its a fake (and a bad one at that) but I get a kick out of it every time  (Edit:  it's the one with the shark jumping out of the water attacking the dude hanging from a helicopter. )

Sharks are cool.

[DSJ™]

Up here, we have a law against using live bait.

[Morgbug]

Bloody hell, he's Australian.  It's a fact of life down there.  Love that "former shark mesher".  Civic governement at its finest.  Nobody's died from a shark bite in years, can the guy that sets the nets and we'll save a few bucks.  Gawd, I love politicians

[JediMAC]

Edit:  Apparently snopes doesn't like borrowing of pics.

I know its a fake (and a bad one at that) but I get a kick out of it every time  (Edit:  it's the one with the shark jumping out of the water attacking the dude hanging from a helicopter. )

Yeah, I definitely know the shot you're talking about Mikey.  The one where someone merged one of the "Air Jaws" Discovery/National Geographic "flying" Great White pictures, with a picture of a military training exercise over the bay, in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.  That was a pretty funny one!

If anyone's interested in seeing some other cool shark pix, here's my old official, unofficial JD shark thread from last year's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

Love me some sharks!  

[Mainland05]

That is pretty creepy, to know that.  I would **** my pants if that was me in that photo!

[Famine]

Hot damn! Once I figure out my scanner, Ill scan the picture of myself and the first mate of the ship I was on, holding the shark I hooked. First one on the boat. The second one is the one on my fridge. One of my proudest moments.

I dont apreciate sharks as swiming companions, but I love to go to Ripleys Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg Tenn. and go into the underwater tunnel and watch the sharks swim around, and read all the plates listing when the attacks on the tube happened. Good stuff!

Kevin

[Brian]

That picture is definitely creepy, and its funny how it just happened to catch that in the picture.  I'm sure it would really be a freak out type of thing to think you were that close to getting bitten by a shark.  Yikes.

[paploo]

i dont see any shark fin, where is it at

[Darth Kenobi]

i dont see any shark fin, where is it at

On the left hand side of the picture there is something that looks like a triangle so I would assume that is the "shark".  I not sure if that is an actual picture of a shark or not since anyone can photoshop something together now a days.  It would be interesting to see the other pictures that had the "shark" swimming around in the lake to see what that looks like.  

And it would of been a better picture if we saw the guy get bitten by the shark.

[paploo]

that looks more like a ripple than a shark... i am probably wrong though

[Infamy Of Crete]

How often are sharks found in LAKES people!!!! good hose job,but the picture is bad and the story is even worse.

[Angry Ewok]

Actually... Sharks, bullsharks in particular, find their way into lakes more often than I think any of us would like to know.  

[JediMAC]

Brad's right, Gary.  Assuming it's not a self contained lake, but one that has a river/stream leading into it at some point.  Bull sharks are notorious for swimming up creaks, streams, rivers, etc. and are somehow adaptable from salt water to fresh, which is pretty much what makes them the #1 most feared shark, and the one that's made the most attacks on humans every year (above Whites and Tigers even).

In fact, the movie Jaws was loosely based on the notorious rampage of a bull shark back along the New Jersey shores in the early 1900's, with several of it's attacks coming in small creaks and rivers.  If those lead to a lake, then it's certainly possible for the shark to get in there.  Unless, by definition, lakes are entirely contained on all sides, with no outlets.  I dunno...

Interesting speculation nonetheless.