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Aussie Vanishes in Shark's Jaws

Was longtime advocate of shark protection

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 29, 2008 7:44 AM CST

(Newser) – A missing Australian snorkeler looks to have been the victim of a brutal shark attack, the Guardian reports. Bystanders saw a dorsal fin and a struggle before the water turned red and the man disappeared off western Australia; his tattered wetsuit surfaced later. An aerial search later spotted a great white swimming in the area. Brian Guest, 51, was a longtime advocate of shark conservation.

A few hours later in Sydney, a great white knocked a kayaker out of his boat, but he managed to get back in. The Guest attack was Australia’s second shark attack this year; the country sees about 15 annually. “I have always had an understanding with my wife that if a shark or ocean accident caused my death then so be it, at least it was doing what I wanted,” Guest wrote in 2004.

[Images (3)]

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About 15 people per year are attacked by sharks in Australia. (Shutterstock)

An Australian man was attacked by a shark off the country's west coast. (Shutterstock)

The coast at Perth, near where the attack occurred. (Shutterstock)

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Every death is a tragedy—regardless of the cause—but we have no greater claim to use of this earth than any of the other creatures we share it with. - Brian Guest, 51-year-old victim of
a shark attack

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Aussie Vanishes in Shark's Jaws