(no subject)

[raincitygirl]

My mum found The Americans, Season 1 (which she had lost). Yay, I can re-watch now!

There've been two incidents recently of large ocean predators getting beached and being saved by passers-by tirelessly throwing buckets of salt water over them, over and over again. Near Vancouver it was an juvenile orca, also known as killer whale. And in Cape Cod it was a juvenile Great White Shark! The orca had probably been chasing seals in shallow water, and she did eventually manage to dislodge herself after the tide came back in. She would surely have died without the volunteers keeping her cool and wet for 6 hours, though. In Cape Cod, the Coast Guard (very carefully, I presume) tied a rope to the Great White's tail and then towed it into deep water with a boat.

Orcas have good press these days, "Free Willy" and everything. But Great White Sharks have terrible press. Good for the Cape Cod people seeing it was in distress and helping it. But I must admit I'm surprised. I'm vaguely surprised about the orca, too. I read Farley Mowat's A Whale for the Killing in my formative years and it left an impression that people are bastards. It's good to be wrong sometimes.

I had terrible trouble sleeping last night, so cannibalized tonight's sleeping pills in order to get to sleep. And of course I don't pick up my new bubble pack until tomorrow, so I'll just have to make do with less than usual tonight. Le sigh!

Comments

[thatyourefuse]

I was so happy and, as you say, surprised to hear about that shark, especially since there have been a few well-publicized biting incidents this summer. (I am so amused that he seems to have beached himself while chasing seagulls. Juvenile males are kind of the same in any species, aren't they?)

[raincitygirl]

Yeah, after all those well-publicized bitings in North Carolina, I was thinking passersby finding a large beached shark might kick it or shoot it or at the very least walk on by. Instead they helped it out. Who woulda thunk it? And yeah, the “chasing seagulls” thing made me chuckle too. The teenage boy thing transcends the boundaries of species.

I’m terrified of sharks. When I was in Cuba last October (Canadian, so I can go) I refused to go further than waist deep into the water for fear of meeting one. Although our tour guide said he’d spent all his 30 years living and swimming in Varadero, and had never so much as seen a shark. But then he would say that, wouldn’t he? He did say, quite honestly, that in the economic crisis of the early 1990’s, a whole bunch of Cubans left for Florida on makeshift rafts, and a third of them were eaten by sharks along the journey. Nice cheerful information for him to bring out at the beginning of our vacation!

I refused to go snorkeling because you have to go further out that waist deep. But even though I’m terrified of them, many varieties of shark (including the Great White) are endangered. And anyway, it’s *their* ocean ecosystem. We just play in it from time to time, so we should hardly be surprised when a shark acts according to its nature.

I’m rambling about stuff that’s not even connected to the point. Getting back to the point, yes, good for those Cape Cod beachgoers. And I bet that particular Great White never chases seagulls again!