Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 facts for kids
The Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 were a series of shark attacks along the coast of New Jersey, in the United States, between July 1 and July 12, 1916, in which four people were killed and one injured. Since 1916, scholars have debated which shark species was responsible and the number of animals involved, with the great white shark and the bull shark most frequently cited. The incidents occurred during a deadly summer heat wave and polio epidemic in the United States that drove thousands of people to the seaside resorts of the Jersey Shore.
While sharks had been seen as harmless, the pendulum of public opinion quickly swung to the other extreme, and sharks quickly came to be viewed not only as eating machines, but also as fearless, ruthless killers.
Personal and national reaction to the fatalities involved a wave of panic that led to shark hunts aimed at eradicating the population of "man-eating" sharks and protecting the economies of New Jersey's seaside communities. Resort towns enclosed their public beaches with steel nets to protect swimmers. Scientific knowledge about sharks before 1916 was based on speculation. The attacks forced scholars to reassess common beliefs about the abilities and the nature of shark attacks.
Shark attacks on the Atlantic Coast of the United States outside the semitropical states of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas were rare, but scholars believe that the increased presence of sharks and humans in the water led to the attacks in 1916.
The shark attack led many meetings about public awareness in congress by the United States House of Representatives and by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson.
The Jersey Shore attacks immediately entered into American popular culture, where sharks became caricatures in editorial cartoons representing danger. The attacks became the subject of documentaries for the History Channel, National Geographic Channel, and Discovery Channel.
Images for kids
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Map of the Jersey Shore attacks
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Philadelphia Inquirer coverage of the attacks at Matawan, with portraits of Stanley Fisher (bottom right) and Lester Stilwell
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German American Michael Schleisser and the great white shark caught in Raritan Bay purported to be the "Jersey man-eater", as seen in the Bronx Home News
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Leading scientists of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City debated the threat posed by sharks before and after the 1916 Jersey Shore attacks
See also
In Spanish: Ola de ataques de tiburón de Nueva Jersey de 1916 para niños
