Community stunned after shark kills dog in Nova Scotia waters
Dog was retrieving ducks in calm water during attack
Residents on Nova Scotia's South Shore are shocked by a horrific incident in which a shark snapped up a dog swimming in ocean waters, but a marine biologist says it's no surprise.
The attack happened Wednesday off Frying Pan Island near the coastal community of Port Medway.
In a statement, the dog's owner said he departed from Port Medway harbour by boat around 8 a.m. with his dog, Pepper, to hunt sea ducks.
"When the ocean is calm and the ducks fall near the boat, it is common practice to send a dog into the ocean to retrieve the waterfowl," wrote Pepper's owner, saying he did not want to be interviewed. "This is what these dogs are bred and trained for."
The owner raises Chesapeake Bay retrievers.
Pepper retrieved the first duck without issue. She then leaped into calm waters to retrieve a second duck that fell about six metres from the boat.
'It happened so quickly'
"Pepper jumped in, retrieved the duck and was headed back to the boat when a large shark erupted from below her, lifting her into the air and then pushing her down under the surface," the owner said in the statement, adding that he wanted to tell the story in the interest of public safety.
"It happened so quickly and was so shocking that even though I was looking right at her when it happened, I cannot say for certain what type of shark it was."
Pepper resurfaced and struggled back to the boat, where her owner hauled her to safety.
"Her wounds were grievous, and she died shortly after," said the owner, estimating the shark to have been about 2.5 metres long.
Chris Harvey-Clark, a marine biologist and university veterinarian at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said while the incident is unfortunate, it's indicative of great white shark behaviour.
Harvey-Clark said great white sharks typically swim along the bottom of the ocean and look up toward the surface for prey. In Nova Scotia's Atlantic waters, visibility is not good.
"Even though they have excellent contrast vision, they could easily mistake a dog at the surface, for instance, for a small seal," said Harvey-Clark, who has been diving off the province's coast for decades.
He also noted there are plenty of recorded instances of white sharks taking other "non-target" species, noting an incident earlier this summer in which a deer swimming between two islands in Nova Scotia was attacked by a shark.
"Virtually anything that's moving around in the water with bad visibility can be the target for shark investigation and an investigative bite from a big shark is life-ending for a little animal," he said.
The other factor at play is the plethora of seals that call Nova Scotia home — prime prey for sharks. It's why sharks like it here.
"The buffet is open," he said, adding that the province's South Shore is "a pretty sharky place."
There are not necessarily more sharks in Atlantic waters in recent years, but rather, more people observing their activity, said Harvey-Clark. We also don't have a very good idea of historical and current populations.
"We could have quite a few sharks out there, but we just have not had the scientific resources in Canada that are present in the States to do these sort of studies to look at how many animals are out there," he said.
Residents have been left shaken by the gruesome incident.
James Harnish, 67, has been fishing mackerel from Port Medway harbour since he was a young boy.
He said he's "never heard tell" of a shark attacking an animal in that area.
"I would say they [people in the area] will be more careful letting their animals and stuff in the water," Harnish said from a wharf Friday.
"There's a lot more seals here than I've ever seen. And they're big. They're the size of a barrel."
Shark attacks on humans rare: researchers
Harvey-Clark was also not surprised about how close the shark was to shore, noting great white sharks have been known to troll as close as 4.5 metres from shorelines.
Nevertheless, he said shark attacks on humans are extremely rare, noting you're six times more likely to be hit by lightning than bitten by a shark.
He had this advice for those headed out into Nova Scotia waters: "Use your common sense."
"Avoid dawn and dusk because those are low visibility hunting times," he said.
"Have some situational awareness of where you are and what the other creatures around you are doing, and just exercise reasonable judgment and you should be just fine."
Shark breaches in the area
Steve Crawford, a marine biologist with the University of Guelph, declined a phone interview with CBC News, but said in his shark newsletter that he had been in touch with the dog's owner. He said there were numerous shark breaching events in the Port Medway region before and after the attack.
"When I spoke yesterday with the hunter about specific circumstances of the attack on his dog, he told me that the attack was shortly preceded by another nearby hunter with a retrieving dog observing a larger 12-foot white shark BREACHING NEARBY shortly after his dog had been brought back to his boat," Crawford said in his newsletter.
"I was able to speak directly with this other hunter, and he told me the next morning [Thursday] he observed no less than 4 WHITE SHARK BREACHES IN SIX HOURS at different places just outside of Port Medway Bay/Harbour."
Crawford said he is working to document these observations of shark breaches.
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With files from Gareth Hampshire
