What an IDIOT!! - Page 1

I guess he's trying to prove he's got man-sized balls. I think he's just being a stupid dick! 

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/us-22424932/the-kayaker-and-the-shark-24671766.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fus-22424932%252Fthe-kayaker-and-the-shark-24671766.html

You can't fix stupid.  At least if he keeps up with this kind of behavior, he won't be around to pass on the "stupid" gene

Mindhunt, yeah, we've got a definite Darwin Award candidate here! 

Basking sharks are planktonic feeders. By swimming with their mouths wide open, they filter plankton out of the water with their long, tightly set gill rakers. The water then exits the body via the gill slits. Most of the plankton which is ingested consists of copepods and other crustaceans, fish eggs and larvae. The gill rakers are shed in the winter and are replaced the following spring.

He identified the type of shark

Maybe not so much an Idiot..... most definately a thrill seaker and attention getter.

so he's an idiot for swimming close to a non-predatory shark? now who's the idiot? sunsilver.

I'd love to encounter a basking shark or a whale shark, as well as a manta ray.  I've been in the water with some that are dangerous, but the most harm this one could do would be to whap you with its tail, they're pretty docile and mostly harmless.

The first thing I thought of (without really know what kind of shark it was), was thank goodness it's not in predatory mode! I must admit though, I found it fascinating how man and beast could co-exist in the water like that, and just observe one another. This guy is pretty smart actually. He knew what he was looking at, and played cool. Not panicking is the best game plan sometimes.

GSDtravels, you want to retract what you said about rays being harmless?  How soon we forget! There's a reason for that barb on their tail!

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1531446,00.html

Okay, I have to confess, I have a thing about people bothering wild animals in their natural environment. If I'd listened to the whole video, I would have know the shark was harmless. But it just bugs me to see someone approach a wild animal like that.

When I visited Banff, there was this HUGE bull elk, with a 6 ft. wide rack of antlers grazing on someone's shrubbery. This idiot tourist walked right up to it, and patted it, like it was a barnyard cow. IMO, people who do dumb things like this DESERVE to get hurt. But untorunately, it's the animal that always takes the blame, and may wind up getting shot/euthanized.

Think if it this way. You've got a protection-trained GSD, and some idiot comes up to it and wants to pat it or even hug it. Now, how dumb is that??

Actually, manta rays don't have a barb on their tail, they are gentle giants.  I don't molest any creatures, but if you happen to find yourself in their environment, there is nothing wrong with observing them.  You're a land-lubber and obviously don't know much about the creatures that inhabit the sea and that's okay.  But, everyone is not out there to interfere with them and this guy didn't do anything but share water space.  He wasn't riding it, wasn't bothering it, he was observing from a close distance.  I've been in the water with sharks, barracudas, sting rays (the ones WITH the barb on their tail), moray eels, etc.  and there is danger in anything you do, but if you don't take some risks in life, you also don't enjoy it to the fullest.  I'm sure there are cat people out there who would also be quick to point out how dangerous it is to live with GSDs because the can "turn on you at any moment".  And actually, that HAS happened, but it's not something that occurs often.  Not much different from the misinformation here.