Was it a shark? Or a toothy critter?

The poor folks along the Alabama and northwest Florida beaches could use a break.  Hurricane Ivan, Hurricane Katrina, the Great Recession, BP’s oil spill—it has been a tough six years.  
 
The early summer of 2011 was off to a great beginning.  No storms, a somewhat-improving economy and white, sandy beaches free from disgusting BP tar balls.  Then, a kid on a jet ski took a tumble about 200 yards off the surf near the Alabama-Florida line and was bitten on the leg by what proved to be a shark.  He was airlifted to Pensacola and hospitalized for three days. 

The fast-spreading news of the shark attack was the last thing Gulf Coast businesses and property owners needed.  Local authorities were quickly in the media spotlight, answering questions. 

“It was not a shark attack.  It was a barracuda,” one of them said.  A barracuda biting a swimmer off the coast of Orange Beach is not the kind of PR you want for your beach town, but it’s approximately 1,000 percent better than a shark attack.  The problem was that a barracuda attack that close to shore in the northern Gulf would be an extraordinarily rare event.        

When questioned about what else could have attacked the young man, another local official chimed in, presumably with a smile:  “Well, everyone knows the Gulf of Mexico has some toothy critters.” 

Toothy critters?  In the worldwide history of shark attacks, never has a victim uttered the words: “Ouch.  Some toothy critter bit me.”  A toothy critter is Barney the Purple Dinosaur.  It’s not a barracuda.  And it is absolutely not a shark. 

I could only think of the mayor in Jaws.  Remember the scene in the movie when he is questioned by the media about a shark eating someone at the beach in Amity?  His response went something like this:  “There are reports that some of our local fishermen have caught a predator that supposedly injured some bathers.  But as you can see, it’s a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time.  Amity, as you know, means friendship.” 

That’s bad spin of the world-class variety.  And it is strikingly similar to how officials on the Gulf Coast initially mishandled the 2011 attack.  While one can absolutely appreciate the position in which local authorities found themselves, painting a shark attack with a toothy critter brush is no way to instill confidence in the folks thinking about vacationing with you. 


Officials acknowledged a couple of days later that the jet skier had been bitten by a shark. Very fortunately for them, the embarrassing toothy-critter comment was in the news for only a few days and they escaped what could have been a long-term, serious public relations goof.