Great White Shark Attack Victims In Massachusetts Say Media As Bad As Their Misadventure In A Kayak

The great white shark attack victims who survived being flipped out of their kayak off the coast of Plymouth, Massachusetts, were quite shaken by their ordeal, but now Ida Parker and Kristin Orr are finding that a scarier predator exists on land: the media.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, a shark attack in Alabama had a fisherman defending himself with his fishing rod in order to save his leg. The worst part was that even after he pulled himself free, he still had to drive a jet ski back to safety.

Ida Parker’s father, Randy, explains that the two young women had purposefully taken their kayak out to the rocks along Stage Point in hopes of spotting a great white shark in the water.

“They heard from our neighbor, Hannah, that a great white had consumed a seal in one gulp in that area,” Parker said. “So they decided to head out on the chance they could get a good look at one.”

Kristin had attached a GoPro camera to her kayak in hopes of video taping a good great white shark sighting.

“That could be some very interesting video, especially the soundtrack,” Parker said. “My daughter speaks fluent Manometian. But when the shark attacked the boat the camera went to the bottom.”

As The Inquisitr previously reported, this incident wasn’t the first time this past week that a great white shark sent a camera to the briny deep. But Mr. Parker says the girls were not focused on getting good footage — they just wanted to survive since the great white shark had left a nasty gash in their kayak with its bite.

“I can’t really imagine how hard this has been on them, though I can say as a father it was tough. Ida told me that all she could think of as she was hanging on to side of the kayak, was what I said to her before she took off,” Parker said. “I gave her a kiss and said, this is just in case I don’t see you again.”

After being thrown into the water, the two girls screamed for help and attracted the attention of 60-year-old Tom Davies, who came to help them in his own kayak. Davies said he gave them advice that he learned from Shark Week.

“We weren’t the prey that he wanted. If we had started paddling in, if we started to create turbulence… I didn’t want to create any more seal-like conditions that he might think we were prey.”

Fortunately, neither of the two women suffered injuries in the shark attack.

Although the great white shark attack was traumatizing, the “attack” by the media has been overwhelming. Neither of the two were able to get a good night’s sleep for days after the shark attack because the media kept calling them at all hours through the night. Randy Parker says Ida kept on apologizing multiple times during the evening of the attack, saying, “Sorry Dad.” The morning did not bring relief since the phone calls started up once again, with reporters wanting to get their exclusive interviews from the two woman. Mr. Parker says the overwhelming nature of the media attention is the reason why there haven’t been any first-hand accounts of the great white shark attack.

Meanwhile, officials in Plymouth, Massachusetts, are saying they will be more vigilant in watching for great white sharks in the area. But a shark sighting later in the week seemed to indicate this particular shark had move onto the ocean near Scituate, a two about 20 miles from Plymouth. A marine biologist believes the great white shark jumped out of the water with a seal in its maw.