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Shark Killing Video: Fisherman Beats Predator To Death, Sparking Outrage

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 02:34 PST, Jan 23, 2015

A fisherman from New Zealand has sparked a flurry of outrage online, after posting a video in which he brutally kills a shortfin mako shark by smashing it over the head with a block of wood.

The man, thought to be from Whangarei according to Stuff.Co.Nz, calls himself the “Original Fishkiller,” and appears to be a commercial fisherman. His video begins as he is standing over a just-caught mako shark, roughly 2-meters-long, while it lays on the deck of a boat, covered in blood. He aims his comments at television fishing celebrity Matt Watson of the ITM Fishing Show, before violently ending the shark’s life.

“Tranquillize them? This is how we roll on the Starglazer Matt Watson, there is no letting them go brother…”

[Warning: Graphic Content]

After the unnamed fisherman bashes the shark across its head with the wooden plank, the predator writhes in agony, a fishhook still hanging from its mouth. The shark flips onto its side, exposing a stomach red with blood, before the clip ends with a voice saying “…And sleep.”

The video was posted to Watson’s Facebook page, according to the Daily Mail, where it has received over 42,000 views since Wednesday afternoon, sparking a furious backlash from visitors.

“Check out this guy…Yes fish are killed for consumption, but hopefully this wasn’t just killed to mock our conservation efforts. Not a good look,” the page’s administrator noted.

Watson questioned the video, observing that it appeared to be a jab at his efforts toward shark conservation. While he asserted that he had no problem with fish being killed for food, as long as the animal wasn’t endangered, he also said that there was a proper way to kill the shark, without prolonging its suffering.

“It is a respect thing,” he noted.

Other observers called the fisherman an idiot, and said that his video was both offensive and disturbing. Some have tried to identify the “original fishkiller,” but with no success.

“Gutless…would love to see you vs that shark in the water!! Kill it properly you clown…,” one seethed.

The video stands in stark contrast to others that have circulated online recently, depicting far more humane treatments of sharks by non-commercial fisherman. As the Inquisitr has previously reported, several large sharks have been landed on Australian beaches, and were released after they were measured and recorded.

Watson pointed out that there are people like the “Original Fishkiller” in every sector, asserting that not all commercial fisherman are represented by the man in the shark killing video.

[Image: Facebook via the Daily Mail]

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