"Sharkman" on 60 Minutes

On 60 Minutes this past week, there was a segment about great white sharks and one man who studies them in South Africa - Mike Rutzen. He has been working with great whites for many years, starting as a part of the tourist trade and shark cage diving. Rutzen has since moved into the realm of shark awareness and education. He is trying to convince people that the sharks are far more than just "man-eaters" and have more intelligence and depth than given credit.
For Anderson Cooper, this was a short piece, but I have to give much respect to the guy... he actually gets IN the water with NO cage or chain mail and a great white on site. Nicely done. What I particularly liked about Rutzen was his ability to anthropomorphise the great white shark. Generally, we humans love to give our traits to animals, and with extremely intelligent mammals we may even be right to give them "feelings" of some kind. But sharks always get a bad reputation, and the best compliment you may hear is how majestic they are while gliding silently through the water. But Rutzen characterizes some sharks as calm, relaxed and even curious. I can dig it. My favorite line of his, however, was that he expects to die young- from his lifestyle of smoking and drinking, not his work with great white sharks.

This link will take you to the CNN website where you can read a written article or watch the video from the t.v. segment so you can, as always, form your own opinion. There are additional links on the site as well if your appetite is whetted and ready for more.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/25/60minutes/main6332850.shtml

RATING: ~~~~ (4 out of 5 waves) totally worth watching, could have been a longer segment though!

It is nice to see the plight of the ocean and her animals in mainstream news without major tragedy involved (i.e. oil spills). Remember not to always have a gloom and doom attitude when it comes to saving our planet and its creatures. Just appreciate every experience and interaction that you do get, and you will be much happier!
-Callie