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Subscribe to RSSA husband and father was attacked and killed by a shark in Auckland as he was swimming 650 feet from the shore. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
A man was attacked and killed by a shark Wednesday off the coast of New Zealand, police said.
Local media identified the victim as 46-year-old Adam Strange, an award-winning director of short films.
The victim was swimming about 200 yards offshore from Muriwai Beach, just west of Auckland, when he was attacked, New Zealand Police Inspector Shawn Rutene said.
Witnesses called police and lifeguards quickly jumped into action when the attack occurred about 1:30 p.m. local time Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday), but it was too late to save the man, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
Police and lifeguards quickly took to the water in inflatable rescue boats, and officers opened fire on the shark, which "rolled over and disappeared," Rutene said in his statement, adding that the shark was estimated to be 12 to 14 feet long.
Phil Walter / Getty Images
People grieve outside Muriwai Surf Lifesaving Club after a swimmer died in a fatal shark attack at Muriwai Beach on Wednesday.
Authorities said they had closed Muriwai and nearby beaches as the investigation continued.
Shark attacks are uncommon in New Zealand, according to the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History.
According to the museum's International Shark Attack File, there had been just 48 confirmed attacks, eight of them fatal, since 1852. Those numbers did not include Wednesday's incident.
Neighboring Australia has had 510 confirmed attacks, 144 of them fatal, since 1700, according to the museum's figures, which it says were current as of Feb. 11.
In a biography on Strange's website, he described himself as an avid outdoorsman.
"When I get a spare 5 minutes, I like to make a fruit smoothy, surf some big waves out on the West Coast," the site says.
The New Zealand Herald reported that Strange had a wife and a baby daughter. "The family are grieving the loss of a glorious and great father, husband and friend," the family said in a statement reported by the newspaper.
A short film by Strange, "Aphrodite's Farm," won a Crystal Bear award for Best Short Film for people over 14 at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, according to the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb.com.
Strange said in his biography that he had made television commercials before turning to short film.
Related:
Kill sharks before they attack humans? Australian state will do just that
Leave a Comment:
J-Hicks. Besides you I found very few words of sympathy for the family. As with your words, I think we should all have some sympathy for this man and his family. He had a wife and baby daughter. These bad jokes that I have read are in such bad taste. A life was lost. To the people cracking jokes, think about this:
What if it was you or a close family member that passed away tomorrow from some unfortunate incident? Would you make the same jokes?
Thank you J-hicks for your kind words.
Ken this is a cautionary tale, when really bad things happen, most humans resort to humor as a coping mechanism. it's not disrespectful in the right context. this story tells of a man swimming in open water without reguard for safety. not a smart thing to do, so out comes the satire thats all.
Praise his life not morurn his death!
Damn! I was really hopping it ate George Lucas or Steven Spielberg! Oh well, maybe next time.....
I'm not sure why anyone swims in the ocean- Hello? There are sharks everywhere in it- not just off the coast of Australia and No. California. Stay out of the ocean and you will not be eaten alive. Poor guy- what a horrible way to meet your end.
Because it's made of water, so it's pretty hard to ride a bike in it
BREAKING NEWS! There are sharks in the ocean and they kill people!!!!
How about a little coverage of Obama letting illegals out of jail ???
Another NO NEWS day at MSNBC
"If it news, it's news to MSNBC!!"
Phew! For a second I thought it might have been Peter Jackson from reading the headline. not cool nbc.
Swimming two hundred yards off shore? That's two football field lengths from shore. What an idiot?
at the end of the day it was a human life that was taken; can we get a little respect out there? Just think how the family feels and now his little girl will now grow up without her father! SAD!
I am very sorry to hear about this fatal shark attack; my condolences to this man's family and friends.
The article says that officers opened fire on the shark, and then it rolled over and disappeared. I don't understand this mentality. What does this prove? Is there some evidence that killing this shark will make any difference at all in future shark attacks? This just seems like a mean form of knee-jerk, tough-guy retaliation. I could understand trying to save someone who is being attacked at that moment, but if the attack is over, then this seems wrong. People should realize that they are entering dangerous territory by swimming in the ocean. This is where sharks live, and they should not be routinely exterminated by human beings when they are just doing what sharks do. This makes me sick.
We, as human beings, all around the planet, need to wake up and realize that it is not just all about us. This mindless slaughter of sharks and other ocean inhabitants, including overfishing, is doing us no good at all. Serious changes need to be made in our actions, and our overall mindset, before it is too late. We cannot continue to damage our planet and drive various species to extinction and then think that somehow it won't eventually catch up with us and affect us in a very negative way.
Swimming 200 yards offshore??? Well, there you go. We always try to get revenge, don't we? Don't try to kill the shark, it's just being a shark. If you are going to swim that far offshore, you deserve the consequences...
My heart goes out to Adam's family and friends over this freak accident. He was a good man and a talented film director.
Would rather that the global response to this situation be for people to realize sharks are coming closer to shore because we've depleted their food supply in the ocean, maybe they're pissed off because thousands of their kin are being killed every day just for their fins to appease bizarre Asian diets, and that they are crucial to the health of our marine environment ergo our planet.
As opposed to a knee-jerk massacre of this majestic animal in response, scientists need to get serious about developing a pheromone-based shark repellent that can go into suntan lotion etc. and we all need to look more seriously at the deleterious effects humans are inflicting on our oceans.
Wow, these are some really rude and thoughtless comments, about a man, whose family is really going to miss him. The people on these pages just get nastier and nastier.............Sad
Poor guy. Being eaten alive must be one of the worst ways to die. I get the creeps every now an then when I go surfing.
Unless sharks grow legs that's one thing I'll never have to worry about getting killed by. Who in there right mind swims in an ocean 200 yards offshore anyway. If the sharks didn't get you the power of the tide could carry you miles offshore. I think I'll stick to looking at the ocean while drinking a margarita. If you don't respect mother nature she'll bite you in the ass, literally.
He disagreed with something that ate him! 200yards off shore not to smart! sharks do what sharks do, you get what you pay for when you go into the ocean unprepared! the ocean is a fickel bitch she'll get you if your noy paying attention!
So what if sharks are extinct? Do I care? Nope - I don't even like shark steaks!
/asshat mode 1
quick blame the shark. lets ban sharks, and shark teeth!!
/asshat mode 0
The way it works here on planet of the "naked apes" is all life forms have to eat other life forms to exist.
The big mindless eating and breeding machine, for no purpose other then it can.
He's an idiot. 200 yards from shore? He couldn't swim 20 feet from shore?
My condolences to the family. My first thought was "that's 2 football fields out" but I also know sharks swim within 30 yards of swimmers all the time. Seen the aerials. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. RIP
If you think the pool at the hotel is crowded. try looking under the water sometimes.lots going on down there all kinds of nastys.
This is very sad indeed but man forgets ... we are but guests in the ocean. We don't breath water and so we shouldn't expect that we will not be attacked nor eaten by the creatures of the sea. To kill sharks before they can kill us is a sin. Enjoy the ocean by looking at it, soaking your feet in it, and then get a pool.Why does MAN think they need to have and own everything?!
Largely we don't get eaten. A shark bites wanting to taste us and spits us out. Unfortunately, their bites are quite devastating.
I wonder why people have to swim so far from shore. That is farther than two football fields. He never had a chance to get to safety. My condolences to his family.
Condolences to the family. That said, humans kill 100 million sharks a year, for stupid crap like shark fin soup. Sharks do what they do, not out of vanity, hate, greed, superstition, etc -- they eat cause they need to. And actually, most human attacks are mistaken identity anyway (surfers on a board looking like seals, etc)
I have too much respect for the ocean, that's why I
will never go out for a swim in it and become food
for something else.
If he got it on film, I think I could see an Oscar in the future.