Movies may make close encounters with wild animals look thrilling, but real life can turn dangerous in a split second. A woman experienced a terrifying moment off Tybee Island, Georgia, when a great white shark suddenly swung around and lunged toward her as she attempted to touch it.
Jimmy Lee Armel, founder of Knot Lucky, a nonprofit that organizes free fishing trips for military veterans and their families, shared footage of the incident on Facebook. The woman, identified as Jen, was taking part in the organization’s great white shark research and tagging program.
Armel said the crew maintained control of the situation, and nobody was injured. The shark was released without a tracking tag because the team did not get a safe chance to attach one.
The program names tagged sharks after fallen military service members. Armel said 10 sharks had been tagged so far, with more expected to return to the area during winter.
University of Sydney shark researcher Chris Pepin-Neff criticized the woman’s attempt to touch the animal. He warned that petting sharks can cause them stress and mislead people into thinking these wild predators are safe to touch.
