Due to hollywood movies about sharks many people think of them as predatory creatures that will hunt down humans due to be blood thirsty. On the contrary sharks, don't even like eating humans. The blood of humans doesn't taste the same as the food they actually eat which is why when a person is attacked it usually just one bite.

The hunter's diet is comprised of fish, seals, and other assorted sea creatures. We find them so terrifying in part because of the characteristics they've evolved to fit into their ecological niche: strength, agility, and an enormous number of teeth.

People are most likely to be in danger of a shark attack when they inadvertently mimic the behavior of a shark's prey. For example, a surfer who has swum far out from shore and is thrashing around, trying to get into position to ride a big wave, may seem like an injured seal to a shark. The surfer is has no idea that their behavior is attracting the shark. In a way, it's like a hapless swimmer who gets caught in a riptide and pulled out to sea. It's just an unfortunate coincidence.

Despite this, on a very low number of people out of the millions who spend time at the beach each year get killed by sharks. Also, there are fewer shark attacks each year than you might expect and of the 90 or so that do occur, most only result in minor bumps and grazes. Whilst it is tragic that anyone should get killed by a shark, incidents involving sharks can be considered accidents rather than malicious attacks.

It is interesting that falling coconuts are more of a danger to people than sharks are. It is a rare event when even the aggressive sharks such as the great white shark or the tiger shark attack a human. Driving your car is vastly more dangerous as in the USA more than 40,000 people die from vehicle accidents each year.

It is only human to feel compassion for anyone who suffers a shark bite. However, one should also feel a similar sort of distress on behalf of all those sharks that will be slaughtered for vengeance. These creatures cannot comprehend the reason they are being tracked and murdered. Only humans can recognize the concept of punishment. Unless we eradicate them all, we are going to have to learn to live alongside them. We have certainly not achieved safety by attempting the former approach.