Gold Experience

Page 19

Sharks: Friends or foes?

A. Imagine the scene: you dive into the sea, knowing there are predatory sharks in the
water. You see one, swim to it and offer it food. Then you take it in your arms and
stroke it. Instead of attacking you, the shark relaxes in your arms. Impossible? Not if
you’re eighteen-year- old Madison Stewart, one of a rare breed of divers and scientists
who can handle sharks in this way. They call it ‘shark whispering’.
B. Madison’s passion for sharks began early. As a young child, she lived on a yacht with
her parents, cruising the Great Barrier Reef. 1) c (complete)Her dad taught her that
sharks were beautiful and that they were a vital part of ocean ecology: by preying on
sick, weak and injured fish, they kept the rest of the population healthy. Madison
couldn’t wait to dive with them and on her twelfth birthday she got her wish! As she
and her dad floated gently in the water, two huge grey sharks swam by. She was
spellbound! ‘I had to drag her out while she still had air in her tank,’ recalls her dad.
C. Before long, Madison got to do her first shark night-feeding session. The boat crew
threw fish pieces and blood into the water to attract sharks and Madison jumped in.
She could see about thirty sharks circling below her. B (complete) ‘So much for killer
sharks!’ she thought.
D. Madison was hooked! But her schoolmates were always getting at her. Most girls her
age spent their time shopping or talking about boys. She chased sharks with her dad.
She was a teacher’s pet, too. She didn’t fit in! ‘Homeschool me and we can travel
together!’ she begged. Her dad agreed. F (complete) but one day she saw a TV
documentary: Sharkwater. It showed fishermen cutting the fins off live sharks, and
then throwing the animals back into the sea to die. Stunned, she learnt the fins were
sold for food. As a result, shark numbers had plummeted. Desperate to protect the
animals she considered ‘family’, Madison began sending her shark videos to
conservation groups.
E. It was while diving in the Caribbean that Madison first saw a shark whisperer in action.
Her companion diver left her side and, to her amazement, headed straight for a shark.
He began to feed it and then stroked it gently! 4) a (complete) This was a reflex action,
her companion explained – some kind of defence mechanism, perhaps. Madison
instantly made up her mind. She wanted to be a shark whisperer, too. But she was
considered too young.
F. Returning to Australia, Madison stepped up her campaign to change people’s opinions
about sharks. She gave up her education and set up her own film company.
5) g (complete) A small shark swam cautiously towards her and Madison, wearing a
chain mail dive suit for safety, ran her hands slowly back along its body. The shark
relaxed and she hugged it for several minutes. ‘It was incredible!’ she said. She stayed
to film tiger sharks, fierce predators that eat just about anything. As she was filming,
her monitor went dark – a tiger shark had bitten her camera cover! Madison was
unconcerned. ‘Sharks don’t have hands – they feel with their mouths – so most attacks
are an exploratory bite. The shark is working out what we are,’ she says.
G. 6) e (COMPLETE)She knew she had to defend her beloved sharks from the fishermen
who hunted them for their fins and, just as importantly, correct the idea that sharks
are mindless killers, to be feared and slaughtered. She set up Facebook sites, and
launched films on YouTube to educate the public and encourage them to put pressure
on governments. These have generated thousands of hits. ‘People have totally the
wrong idea about sharks,’ she insists. ‘More people are killed by falling vending
machines each year than by these wonderful animals. And yet we slaughter millions
annually. It has to stop.’