Some Americans Would Agree To Be Attacked by a Shark for the Cool Story

Some Americans would agree to be attacked by a shark for the cool story, a survey has found.

In research conducted by FloridaPanhandle.com and YouGov, 1,000 Americans were asked whether they would volunteer to be attacked by a shark, if they knew they would survive. It transpired that 17 percent would, just for the story.

The survey was conducted for FloridaPanhandle's shark statistics platform, which aims to educate the public on the likelihood of attacks and how to be more aware of predators in the water.

Shark attacks are extremely rare, particularly fatal ones. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File, 11 people worldwide were killed by shark bite in 2021. Nine of the fatal bites were classified as unprovoked.

The museum states that this is slightly above average, but "long-term trends show a decreasing number of annual fatalities."

The number of unprovoked bites reported in the U.S. last year was 47, including one fatal incident in California. Florida accounted for 28 of the 47, or 60 percent.

Jasmin Diaz, marketing officer at FloridaPanhandle, who was involved in the data collection, told Newsweek: "Sharks, when they bite, they don't just nibble, you know? I think that's interesting that just for the story, people would choose to do that."

In the survey, 41 percent of respondents also said that if forced to choose between four unfortunate events, they would rather be in a car accident on the interstate at 70mph. Around 36 percent opted for a fall out of a third-story window and 12 percent for a bear attack. Only 11 percent of people said they would choose to be attacked by a shark.

Some bites can result in severe injuries. In July, a Florida teenager had her leg amputated after she was attacked off Keaton Beach.

The researchers also looked at the details of shark attacks in the U.S. between January 2000 and October 2022. The species responsible for most incidents was the great white shark, with 112. The bull shark followed, with 63 attacks. Great white sharks have rows of incredibly sharp teeth, so a bite can cause severe injury.

Diaz said these and other statistics were available on the platform, "so people can be more aware of where sharks are, hopefully to prevent future shark incidents."

She added: "We appreciate our ocean animals. So, it's not a bad thing towards them. We just hope that people can be more aware and show them that the sharks are friends [but] sometimes they get confused and they don't really know why they're attacking people."