A shark attack that involved multiple people July 4 at South Padre Island has been covered by dozens of media outlets with stories shared via thousands of social media accounts.
On Monday morning, as I got my day started, I searched for updates and came across one that had some “interesting” details.
The article said that, “South Padre Island and Cameron County Parks officials harnessed the shark in order to move it towards the sea, according to Captain Dowdy from Texas Parks and Wildlife.”
I have heard many things in relation to sharks and shark attacks over the years but never any agency able to capture, handle and “harness” a shark in open water to “move it toward the sea”.
I reached out to Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) officials, sending them a link to the story and asked if they could confirm or deny any such actions.
“I’m not sure where this article got that information from as we neither “harnessed” the shark nor were we able to identify the type of shark it was. I really don’t know where the “harness” comment came from,” said Meggie Berger, Public Information Officer for TPWD’s law enforcement division.
Besides the “harnessing” story, various outlets have reported TPWD confirmed the attacking shark was a bull shark.
“My best guess on the identity of the shark is that one of our game wardens participated in a live interview on Friday alongside a shark expert. That shark expert, who is not affiliated with TPWD, identified the shark. We are unable to confirm if what he said is accurate or not.”
With that said, bull shark makes sense.
They are a large, potentially aggressive shark that is common along the Texas Coast and when we spoke with well-known shark fishing guide and conservationist Capt. Eric Ozolins mentioned there have been 6-7 foot bulls in the surf. But there are a host of large sharks abundant in the region ranging from sandbars to tigers and blacktips.
Chester Moore