Shark Attacks on Runners Remained Flat in 2020, Report Says
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Worldwide shark attacks on runners in 2020 were flat year over year, according to a new report, with a total of zero recorded incidents.
The report, from the Brody Institute, appears in this week’s issue of the Journal of Aquatic Worrisome Statistics. Runners and marine biologists alike welcomed the news.
“In a year of sad, indeed tragic, headlines, these findings offer a rare bright spot for 2020,” said Roy Scheider, author of the report. “Runners have plenty to worry about, but shark attacks—once again—are not one of them.”
Scheider said his team investigated three rumored reports of sharks attacking runners between January 1 and December 31, 2020. All turned out to be baseless. One, from southern California, was entirely made up; the second, from Australia, involved a runner who had taunted a man dressed in a shark costume and handing out fliers on a street corner.
The third and final incident, which resulted in extensive bite wounds on the leg of a runner in Florida, alarmed Scheider’s team until they learned the aggressor had been a dog that, the victim said, “looked like a shark.”
“We feel confident telling folks around the world that they can run without fear of being bitten by a shark,” the report concluded.
In a footnote, the same report mentioned that shark attacks on joggers were up 40%, from 20 confirmed cases in 2019 to 28 in 2020.
