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Thursday, January 18, 2024

From the News: Visitor Bitten by Shark at Atlantis Bahamas

That child I saw being bitten in the butt by a penguin at Tanganyika Wildlife Park might think that she has a story to tell when she gets older... but that's small potatoes.

10-year-old Maryland boy bitten by shark at Bahamas resort

Perhaps the title of this article doesn't strike you as too unusual.  Well, it takes a sharp twist when you learn that this shark bite... wasn't in the ocean.  It happened in a tank.  The child was a visitor at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas, which offers many exhibits of marine life as part of the attractions guests can experience.  One such opportunity available to guests is to swim with sharks.

I'm sure it goes fine 99% of the time.  It's just that in this case it... didn't.  A major part of the draw of doing things like this for many people is the perception of "safe danger," not unlike what draws some people (but not including me) to roller coasters.   

It's hard to manage something as 100% "safe danger" - there inevitably is always that chance that, as in this case, something can go wrong, no matter how carefully you plan or manage it. I'm sure a lot of folks reading the news will think that it's insane that this was even offered as an option for visitors.  The truth is, it's probably a lot safer than it seems; I'd love to know the statistics for how many visitors have participated in the program versus the number that have had any negative interaction, and whether or not something unusual happened to cause the incident here.

Thankfully, the bitten boy is expected to be ok.



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