Shark attack survivor whose torso was crushed now defends the 'kings of the ocean'
The man who survived history's worst non-fatal shark attack now defends the predators that nearly killed him, urging perspective amid recent fatalities.
Rodney Fox had his torso crushed by the bite of a great white shark.
Trapped in its jaws he spent terrifying seconds gouging the predator’s eyes as it swam at breakneck speed across the ocean floor.
The life insurance salesman, then 22, somehow broke free, and eventually survived a 1963 mauling that had surgeons needing 462 stitches to close wounds that should have killed him.
Fox was competing in a South Australian spear fishing competition when the shark smashed him with such force it tore the mask from his face.
When a passing boat dragged him from the water his injures were horrendous: abdomen fully exposed, all ribs broken, diaphragm punctured, a lung ripped open, scapula pierced, spleen visible and his right hand mangled.
A shark tooth was also embedded in his wrist. It is widely regarded as the worst non-fatal shark attack in history.
More than six decades later, a man now dedicated to shark conservation and who invented the first cages to view great whites underwater, is calling for calm despite two recent fatalities in NSW waters.
“The more you study sharks the more you realise they’re a wonderful thing and we have to sidestep them,” Fox, now 85, says.
“It’s their world down there, they’re the kings of the ocean and humans are far worse predators than sharks.
“It’s amazing how people can hate things for no other reason than they don’t understand them.”
Fox says the central issue is fear, and the word “shark” has been unfairly saddled as a synonym for “death and the devil”.
“There was a saying in the days when I was attacked that ‘the best sharks are dead sharks’,” he adds. “Everybody thought ‘get rid of them they’re useless’.
“But that’s because they knew nothing about them. I didn’t hate the shark that bit me.
“People who know more about them are less frightened of sharks and know that the few attacks we have don’t compare with the number of motor vehicle deaths, or even fatalities from riding horses.
“You don’t go and get rid of all the horses do you?”
Based on statistics, people are 200,000 times more likely to drown than die from a great white attack, says Gavin Naylor who manages the International Shark Attack database from Florida.
“Indeed, surfers are more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the beach than they are to be bitten by a shark,” he adds.
Dave Pearson, mauled by a shark 14 years ago on the NSW north coast and founder of the Bite Club for survivors of attacks, says the group serves an important purpose in helping some members deal with ongoing post-traumatic stress.
“The most common form of PTSD manifests itself as depression, a downward spiral of anxiety,” he says. “Unless we can get treatment or help people through it, then that can lead to very sad times.”
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