Residents of the Colombian island of San Andres reportedly hunted and killed a shark in response to a deadly attack on an Italian tourist just days earlier.
Antonio Straccialini was attacked by a tiger shark while swimming in “La Piscinita” off the Caribbean island of San Andres on Friday. The 56-year-old from the Abruzzo region of Italy died soon after, Italian media reported.
A video shared on social media by local newspaper The Archipielago Press purportedly shows a group of San Andres residents attempting to hunt a shark before being approached by marine authorities and warned that harming or killing sharks is illegal.
Environmental group Coralina on Sunday published images of a lifeless nurse shark and denounced the killing of a species that “presents no danger to man”. It is unclear whether the video shared by the newspaper and the still image posted by Coralina of the dead shark are connected.
Coralina confirmed that two large tiger sharks were seen near the area of the incident. “It appears that a resident had warned of their presence and recommended people stay out of the water, but he was not listened to,” it said.
The reasons behind the attack on Mr Straccialini remain unknown, but experts say the animal’s reaction could be a result of various scenarios.
The shark “could feel cornered, they could be courting a female and we’re in their territory, or we’re trying to take their food away, or it’s a female looking after her cubs,” said Colombian actor and dive master Victor Mallarino in a video posted on social media.
Mr Mallarino, known for his environmental activism and expertise, accused the media of vilifying the animal and in turn fuelling the killing of a vulnerable species.
“If one day someone is bitten by a dog, the solution is not to organise ourselves to head out and kill all of the dogs we see,” said Mr Mallarino. “Those kinds of responses belong to a fiction film from the 1970s, Jaws, and that film caused the death of thousands of sharks because of people’s ignorance.”
In Italy, there has been an outpouring of condolences and support for the victim’s family and loved ones on social media.
In Roseto degli Abruzzi, Mr Straccialini’s hometown, the high school where the victim’s sister Roberta teaches is in mourning. “We all embrace Roberta Straccialini for the sudden and tragic loss of her brother Antonio,” the school said in a statement.
Some social media users in Italy have pointed the finger at Colombian authorities, wondering why the swimmer had not been warned of the presence of sharks.
However, a spokesperson for the San Andres local government said on Sunday that these kinds of attacks were extremely rare.
“We even offer snorkelling with professionals in which they swim near sharks, and nothing has ever happened,” the spokesperson told El Pais newspaper. “It could be a case of a visiting species.”
