A video showing a great white shark breaking through the metal bars of a diving cage has been going rounds on the Internet for the past few days.
The close encounter happened during a diving trip off Baja near Guadalupe Island on Oct. 4, CNET reports. As seen on the bone-chilling video below, the shark started to approach the cage and trash the metal bars. Moments later, the shark seen bleeding and the diver emerged from the same opening, completely unharmed but noticeably terrified.
While many users who commented on the video thought the shark was aggressively targeting the diver inside, the caption of the video states otherwise.
"What might appear to be an aggressive great white shark trying to attack the cage, this is not the case. These awesome sharks are biting at large chunks of tuna tied to a rope," the caption read.
Read: Unbelievable! Australian Teen Survives Great White Shark Attack
The shark was lured near the cage in a practice called "chumming" or baiting. The shark accidentally breached through the cage while trying to go after the bait.
"I believe this unfortunate incident was due to the boat operators acting illegally," Candace Crespi, campaign director at Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), told The Dodo.
"In Guadalupe, [California], chumming or baiting over or on a shark-diving cage is prohibited. There are plenty of sharks in this area to observe without force feeding the wild animals."
Experts in animal behavior argue that luring sharks for cage diving teaches them to associate human beings with food sources.
Meanwhile, as noted by NBC 7, Solamar V, the touring company that offered the excursion, has released a statement regarding the incident:
"The cages have been inspected and reinforced while also extending our 'no bait' zone around all cages, and a meeting with other operators will take place later this month in order to work together to minimize unfortunate incidents like this one."
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