Facebook Photo of Girl ‘Surfing’ Whale Shark Leads to Environmentalist Outcry
- Posted on April 9, 2012 at 4:59pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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The Whale Shark, the biggest shark in the world, is fairly friendly considering its size and species cousins. According to ABS-CBNnews, fishermen have been feeding whale sharks with baby shrimp for decades, making them rise to the surface to the delight of tourists. While fisherman may indulge, tourists are banned from feeding or swimming with the whale shark.
(RELATED: Massive Whale Shark Pulled Dead Out of Arabian Sea)
So a picture of a girl riding the whale shark like a surfboard that recently went viral has created a social media buzz and enraged environmentalists. Marine biologists say whale sharks in the area have fresh wounds and it has been reported that the creature was captured and held down by a fisherman to enable tourist viewing:
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) earlier expressed alarm as some people use whale sharks as surfboards, as seen in a photo that has gone viral on social networking sites.
[...]
The Department of Tourism (DOT), meanwhile, urged the public to stop criticizing Carelle Listones, the girl who was photographed riding a whale shark.
Director Rowena Montecillo of DOT Region VII said that instead of dishing out negative comments on social networking sites, Filipinos must focus on spreading the word on how to properly interact with whale sharks.
Listones apologized for her actions on Monday after getting flak from Filipino netizens over her photo.
In an interview, she said she was not aware that riding atop whale sharks is not allowed.
The Sun Star reports that a resident in Boljoon had paid a fisherman P100 to tie the stranded whale shark down so visitors could see the animal. The whale shark was stranded in Barangay Granada in Boljoon March 31 after it got caught in a fishnet and dragged to shallow waters:
Maylyn Avenido, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Integrated Coastal Resource Management Project community organizer in Boljoon, said the whale shark was stranded around 5 a.m. Saturday but was only released at 7:30 a.m.
Avenido, who personally went to the area around 7 a.m. after her attention was called, ordered the fishermen to set the whale shark free but a certain Judie Bequilla insisted to tie the whale shark for an hour, as she was waiting for her visitors who wanted to see the gentle giant.
Avenido went on to say the shark was over nine feet long. Sheryll Tesch, administrative officer and conservation fellow of Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF) Inc, told the Sun Star she understood that people only took the opportunity to see a Whale Shark for free, unlike in Oslob town in Cebu where whale sharks watching costs P300 per person. However, Tesch added that what the people did in Boljoon was wrong.
The Daily Mail notes that environmentalists fear that tourists who fail to keep their distance from the Whale Sharks will disrupt the sharks’ migration patterns.
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Comments (78)
LouC57
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:18pm*yawn*
Report Post »Cute photo
Next…
Ruler4You
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:38pm“Flipper” would never have been possible in an insane world of algae protection.
Report Post »CowboyExpat
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:44pmYes really….welcome to the real world. Time to get out of the county you were born in and experience life as it really is. They skin cats alive and eat them in China….don’t hear anyone bitching about that.
Report Post »Al Gator
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:52pmCute young girl riding this ol Gator’s back? What the hell is the complaint? I’m guessing the shark is enjoying the foot massage and asking for more.
WWF needs a life.
Report Post »IndyGuy
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 7:09pmFrankly the shark looks hungry to me…Why don’t you Enviro-whackos volunteer to be the sacrificial lambs for your cause???
Report Post »Onowicit
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 11:24pmI’m eating whale shark and crackers right now…….
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 10, 2012 at 4:26amMmmmm…. Shark Steak!
Report Post »Wyatt's Torch
Posted on April 10, 2012 at 8:06amThe WWF has really gone down hill and just isn’t the same without Hulk Hogan and Randy the Macho Man savage.
Report Post »troymac20
Posted on April 10, 2012 at 2:57pmAw come on Wyatt, Rock and Cena are way better than Savage and Hogan.
Report Post »Gumbercules
Posted on April 11, 2012 at 12:06amWhen sharks sign a treatise to not attack me when I’m surfing, then I’ll consider not riding them like a raging bull.
Report Post »mrsmileyface
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:15pmGASP! and DOUBLE GASP! Hurry someone call Jaques Cousteau!!!!!!
Report Post »DDD
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:35pmHe’s dead.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 8:44pmYet he still votes in Chitown
Report Post »wakeus_com
Posted on April 10, 2012 at 1:09amBrilliant, thank you for that.
Report Post »younonothing
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:11pmWho cares!!!!!!!!!!!!! You tree hugging morons.
Report Post »Centurian
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:04pmWhen I first read the caption and looked at the photo, I thought someone that was Rosie O’Donnell under the water!
If I hadn’t quickly seen the fin in the background, I would STILL think it was her!!!
Report Post »Kankokage
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:04pmThis girl is riding a whale shark. Your argument is invalid.
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:48pmWhere are these phoney baloney environmentalist when the eagles are dying because of the asinine windmills.. or the bats.. Environmentalist are a big joke and definately a part of the problem!
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:55pmThey’re too busy saving the Delta Smelt Fish and shutting down food for humans in Calicrazy to be worried much about eagles. Progs have priorities, ya know. sarc
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:59pmI have to agree with you.
Report Post »Cosmos102
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 7:44pmObama has given a permit to an Indian Tribe in Wyoming to KILL the American Bald Eagle on the grounds that it is part of their religious ceremony. Where does the WWF stand on that? All I hear are crickets. http://conservativebyte.com/2012/03/an-assault-on-the-symbols-of-america/
Report Post »3hounddogs
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:46pmMakes me hungry for shark for dinner tonight.
Report Post »JDoke
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 7:45pmGoing to the fringe on the other side? So cliche.
Report Post »lassiegirldawn
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:45pmAnything to distract from what is really happening.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:44pmI bet that enviro-nuts are even more fun to hunt, than most other dumb animals.
Report Post »VermontPatriot
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:56pmThe enviro-nuts should be hunted the way they hunt wild hogs in Texas, with a machinegun mounted on a helicopter.Tell me that wouldn’t be fun!
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:57pmAnd I’ve heard they taste like chicken. ; )
Report Post »SpeckledPup
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:39pmyep, we are booking a trip now to go surfing on whale sharks.
Report Post »Sicboy
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:49pmI’d be pissed off too. She has her frick’n shoes on. Some people have no respect.
Report Post »SpeckledPup
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:38pmonly a useless moron democrat fairy would gripe about something like this. notice it is NOT happening in American waters, and they are still crying BOO HOO … and notice the whale shark is just floating there allowing it. .
Report Post »scuba13
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:37pmNext thing you know they will strap a monkey to a dog and ….. never mind.
Report Post »SpeckledPup
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:36pmso what.
Report Post »grimmy
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:28pmJust add the invro-terrorists to the list……
Report Post »Crowley
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:27pmI’m standing on a whale shark the next chance I get, having a pic taken, and emailing the pic to the world wide fund for nature every day for a year. Worthless hippies!
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:25pmThe WWF, HSUS, PETA and ASPCA are only a handful of the crazy anti-hunting, animal “rights” gang’s out there. All of them, including WWF who is making a stink here, are nothing more than front groups for hate-spewing terrorist mother gang, ALF. Why is The Blaze giving them any merit?
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:29pmso that we can see their extremist action, a little girl’s innocent actions are condemned. And I got kicked out of the Boy scouts for trying to make friends with a female boar and her litter on the island of Guam. Oh yea these envio extremists did not exist back in ‘68.
Report Post »Shrugged
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:22pmThe whale shark now knows how good a backrub feels and will never be the same.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:15pmOnce on the ride…..I‘m rather sure if the whale didn’t want to be “surfed” it would not have happened.
Environmentalists have gone off the deep end!
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:18pmOr a whale shark. :-)
Report Post »little big man
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:27pmwe should feed the Environmentalists to the shark. good eating.
Report Post »TheSoundOf Truth
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:57pmUm…little big man, that is impossible.
Whale sharks have no teeth. They only eat very small marine life because they have whale-like baleens.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 6:09pmAnd yet……somehow SoundsLikeALib, I still the whale shark would have been able to dislodge the surfer if they wanted. You know……humans can’t actually breathe underwater for all that long.
Report Post »cookcountypatriot
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:15pmthe severly ill progressives are the only wierdos crying about this…i thought it was awesome…you go girrrrl
Report Post »Grawpy
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:12pmThe injustice. Jesse, Al, Barack, et. al., where are you?
Report Post »MittensKittens
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:11pmAnd your point is, what?
Report Post »Mandors
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:10pmThey actually caught and killed a whale shark in Pakistan about a week or two ago. Funny, not a peep out of the Enviro-nut jobs.
Report Post »dtaglione
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 7:01pmThat’s because a good portion of these peta gooks are women. And you know what happens to women who open their mouths in the middle east. Let’s say – not tolerated. So they have to stay within a safe terrority where they are tolerated.
Report Post »Inlandmar2
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:09pmHey environmentalist…get a life!
Report Post »DIVINEPROVIDENCE1776
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:08pmSave the whale shark kill human babies! Libs are sick puppies.
Report Post »jungle J
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:05pmonly the mntally ill would worry about this.
Report Post »closte
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:08pmI’m curious…where are the folks griping about horseback riding? Strikes me as a touch inconsistent.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:21pmCLOSTE, stop with the logic. Libs get really angry when you point out their inconsistent logic. No more hayrides for you! :-)
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:28pmThese nuts DON’T want you riding horseback. Look into these groups and inform yourself. They are rabid terrorist lunatics.
Report Post »bukowski72
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 5:29pmMentally ill like Glenn Beck building fake Oval Office sets. Delusions of pander.
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