Erich Ritter: Stupid Person Meets Hungry Shark (Page 1)
I’ve been watching Discovery’s Shark Week. And the show they had on tonight was a hoot. If you’ve watched any of these kinds of shows in the past you might be familiar with Erich Ritter, a “scientist” famous for standing in waist deep water with bull sharks. Bull sharks, as you might already know, are *extremely* aggressive sharks that have a very high level of testosterone in their bodies. They are to be respected at ALL times. Mr. Ritter, disregarding anything regarding common sense, was in the water with another guy, for nearly an hour - with large bull sharks swimming around both of them.
One of them swam up behind Ritter, bumped his calf and then - surprise! - bit him in the calf. It grabbed him and then held on. Basically it tore off most of his calf and he almost bled to death. Now what’s wrong with this picture? I don’t blame the shark here at all, good for him. He got a free meal from a VERY stupid person.
One lesson here is that human beings should not swim with sharks. Duh. The other lesson is that sharks are not our friends, they are not “cute” nor can they ever be trusted. They are predators, plain and simple. They should always be respected and should never be taken for granted. Ritter made the mistake of believing his own PR and he deserved exactly what he got.
Edit: Note that I had to recreate this entry from an archive as my original blog is no longer active. I’ve pasted in each of the comments exactly as they appeared originally but they all have the same time stamp as it’s far too tedious to go back and edit each of the time stamps individually. Please feel free to add to the comments already included here.
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What can I say? I must agree! You can’t blame anyone else for your own mistakes. If you swim with sharks, expect to be bitten - especially when it’s a species known for its extreme aggresiveness. For a behavioral ecologist, he’s pretty dumb: it’s hard to predict whether or not the animal will bite, so instead of taking measures, the guy chooses to expose his flesh instead. Smart.
I MUST AGREE. TO JUMP INTO KNEE DEEP WATER WITH THE MOST AGRESSIVE OF ALL SHARKS, IS NOT ONLY STUPID BUT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. WOULD DR RITTER GET INTO A PIT WITH 4 NEGLECTED AND AGGRESSIVE PITBULLS. OF COURSE NOT. SO I SAY TO YOU DR RITTER, “YOU ASKED FOR IT.
THE ONE POSSITVE THING I DID GAIN FROM DR RITTER’S BULL SHARK EXPERIENCE, IS THAT IF THIS MORON CAN BECOME A SUCCESSFUL SHARK BEHAVIOURAL ECOLOGIST, THEN PURHAPS IT’S NOT TO LATE TO QUIT MY JOB AT THE CALL CENTRE AND START MAKING DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT THE WAY ANIMALS ACTUALLY BEHAVE.
stupid, arrogant americans… none of you has ever enjoyed diving with sharks…
so how do you know they are dangerous???
instead of writing bullshit like this, why not ban planes, as they crashed into twin towers on 911?
Kurti, watch the video if you can find a link on the web somewhere. When the shark rips the guys calf muscle off and eats it, please post back here and tell me again that it’s safe to swim with Bull Sharks. LOL
stupid
That’s why I can’t swim in the Ocean
I must admit that swimming with bull sharks that were obviously fed (to be hanging around Mr. Ritter’s legs for an hour) IS STUPID!!!
That being said, I have personal experience swimming with all manner of sharks here in Hawaii (tigers, makos, oceanic white tips, hammerheads, all the reef sharks, and of course whale sharks) I think it IS safe to swim with sharks if you are in a position where you can see ALL the sharks involved. Don’t ever turn your back on a Tiger because that is where he will be!
To make a blanket statement that swimming with sharks is dangerous and no shark can be trusted is stupid. Who ever makes this statement has never swam with a whale shark, EVER SINGLE whale shark I have swam with has been the most docile creature I have ever encountered.
This includes humpback whales and spinner dolphins (I had three attack one of my divers 8 years ago at Niihau (off of Kauai).
To say that a shark is unpredictable is an understatement. ALL WILD ANIMALS are unpredictable, ever see a Koala gouge someones eye?, a dolphin attack a person?, a bear maul a person?, a buffalo, deer, moose, adinfinitum….
PS- I have been doing snorkel tours here on Kauai for the past 16 years.
Come on a tour with me to Niihau (there’s only one company, find it when you get here) in the summer and you’ll most likely swim with numerous reef sharks, if you’re lucky even a manta ray (also a shark)
Aloha Captain Chris
Maybe the word respect is missing in your dictionary. He is a professional and his job is know about shark’s lives, exactly to prevent new incidents by knowing their behaviour. So how will he know about them, if he has no contact with them? It maybe sound strange or like you said stupid, so using your same expression and concept, aren’t you the stupid one for saying that bs? So in your mind should someone continue being attacked by any shark specie and nothing should be done? Probably you would say, yes, they are what they are, killers killers killers!!! They eat whatever they want, they do what they need. Stupid. If you read a bit about sharks you would learn that they aren’t predators, just someone with a stupid mind would think about it. Maybe you just said that make your showtime, sadly I found this thread too late and couldn’t comment when most of people were saying non-sense things (those that do nothing, just eat everyday, stay at the front of their computers and drink coca cola). Well that’s all and I hope that next time you should be less selfish to don’t disrespect anyone anymore.
kurti doesnt know much about anything but he does know how to be a jackass…
i cannot swim in the ocean for the fact of something that had happend to this man…i would be scared as heck to remotely be around something like a shark
Fabio,
I’m not sure what “research” you think supports otherwise, but all readings I have read, as well as common sense, supports the fact that sharks are most certainly predators. It is true that humans are not the usual target, but many shark attacks have nothing to do with hunger, and everything to do with the aggressive nature of the various shark species. We humans have much to thank those who document the wild - but those who choose to document such things (like Timothy Treadwell), also choose the extreme risk associated with spending time with a predator, and therefor is is not stupid for some to claim that they are perhaps stupid in taking the risk.
It’s all in the eye of the beholder I suppose.