Photo Of Fisherman With Giant Dead Shark In NSW Causes Uproar On Social Media

The image has been shared thousands of times since Monday.

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Image via Facebook

shark

Very few things in the world cause more Internet outrage than instances of animal cruelty and murder. What normally ensues is a social media witch-hunt (think the dentist that shot Cecil the lion), a barrage of negative comments and reviews on Facebook, and in some cases the birth of a new meme (RIP Harambe 1999-2016).  

On April 24, Offshore Fishing NSW posted a photo of a man standing proudly next to a bull shark he’d just slaughtered. The caption stated that the shark “ended up dead after being gut hooked and a huge fight”.

Understandably, the Internet imploded. One Facebook user wrote: “I challenge this moron to have the guts to fight me, let alone fight this beast in its territory. Big man in a boat killing an amazing creature at the end of a line.” Another commenter went even further, offering to hang the fisherman “Mussolini style”, take his photo and distribute it to all the sharks. You know you dun goofed when a stranger on Facebook compares you to a fascist war criminal dwarfed only by Hitler and Stalin.

Of all the 5200 responses, not nearly enough commented on how this incident was peak Bogan. The perp is actually barefoot and wearing Australian flag boardies. If the situation weren’t so grim, he'd almost definitely have been satellite-interviewed by Karl Stefanovic. One legend called out “big mate bogan” as being “f*ing disgusting” – yep, totally fair.

Some commenters disagreed. Chris from Merimbula (who was probably also wearing Australiana board shorts at the time of typing) countered: “So sick of all the shark huggers these days !!! Well done on a great capture !!”. With comments still flooding in two days later, Big Mate Bogan should probably really count himself lucky that people haven’t yet completely dragged and exposed him.

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