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Video shows men shooting hooked hammerhead shark, smiling as it bleeds out

Posted at 2:07 PM, Aug 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-14 10:40:02-04

WARNING: Video above is graphic and some may prefer not to watch.

Animal activists are outraged over a video showing men laughing while shooting a shark and watching it bleed to death.

This comes after another recent video showing a shark being violently dragged in the water.

The men catch a shark and then shoot it, smiling as the hammerhead bleeds out in the water.

"This video tape speaks for itself. It is heinous," said Russ Rector, an animal rights activist.

Rector says the person who took this video sent it to him. It is now part of a state investigation.

"He didn't even have the knowledge, the courtesy, or the empathy to put the bullet in the shark's head. He shot the shark repeatedly in the gills."

A Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesman says: "That video was forwarded to us as a result of the public outcry from the first shark dragging video. The video is being investigated and FWC can't confirm identities."

The men involved in the earlier shark dragging video are believed to be from the Sarasota area but no arrests have been made.

 

FWC is also investigating a hammerhead being used as a beer bong.

"That makes it monstrous. Pouring that liquid into that shark," said shark expert Eric Hovland. "That shark was probably far gone or on its way out already."

And now this new video. It's unclear where it was taken or when.

FWC says it is illegal to shoot a shark in Florida waters but it's not against the law in federal waters.

What animal activists say makes them so upset is the men on the boat are smiling and laughing while the shark suffers.

Shooting a shark in the gills is not an instant kill. That shark slowly bled out and suffocated," Rector says.

Florida Fish and Wildlife investigators are asking for any information about the people in that video.

Gov. Rick Scott says he wants to make sure Florida's fishing regulations strictly prohibit "inhumane acts."