Tiger Shark Attack: Human Head Found In The Belly Of A 1,300 Pound Shark

When shark fishermen in the Philippines caught a huge tiger shark, they were probably excited. But that excitement turned to horror when they realized their prize catch had a human head contained within its maw.

A group of Surigao fishermen caught the huge tiger shark in the waters between Bohol and Camiguin islands using only a hook and line. They estimated their catch at around 300 kilograms, or about 660 pounds, but expert diver Jake Miranda of the Surigao Dive Club believes the tiger shark could have been gigantic. The fishermen brought the sun-dried jaw home and it measured 17 inches in diameter, while the shark’s teeth measured about 1.25 inches. Miranda believes the tiger shark could have been over 12 feet long and weighed up to 600 kilograms, or a little over 1,300 pounds.

But 48-year-old Bodoy Gorgod, one of the five fishermen who caught the giant tiger shark, said they were so horrified when they found the human head that they discarded their rare catch.

“It was so disgusting. We can’t bear the awful smell,” said Bodoy Gorgod, who says he had never caught a shark full of human body parts in his 20 years of shark fishing. “We feared that the human remains may bring bad luck to us, so we opted to drop to the sea the shark’s body and what’s inside its belly.”

The fishermen kept the fins and the jaw as a trophy, and went on to catch a much smaller tiger shark that weighed only 42 kilos. But the wife of Perly Santillana insisted that they also throw out the jaw since she fears the soul of the sharks’ victim might visit them at night.

“I don’t want the sight of that jaw, knowing that the shark had eaten a human being. Who knows the victim’s spirit might visit us,” she said according to Minda News.

Unfortunately, the victim of the tiger shark attack will never be known for certain. Some of the locals believes it’s possible the tiger shark might have killed one of the missing passengers of the M/V Maharlika 2 ferry, which sank off of Leyte this past September.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, a great white shark attack at Manhattan Beach Pier left a long-distance swimmer with “Freddy Kruger scars.” One poor sheep must have been a victim of a tiger shark attack since fishermen of the Red Sea found the animal within its stomach.

Shark fishing has been criticized in the past since the Philippine Fisheries Code prohibits the fishing of threatened or endangered species. Although the tiger shark is not on this list, Miranda admits, “They share the shark meat with the rest of the villagers and this has been that way in Punta Bilar for decades.” According to GMA News, the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines list the whale shark, oceanic whitetip shark, scalloped hammerhead shark, great hammerhead shark, and the smooth hammerhead shark as threatened species.

[Image courtesy of Wikipedia]