“More people are killed by bee stings every year than shark attacks,” Jessica Esslinger told a crowd of families from the northwest suburbs. “Basically, sharks have no interest in people–they don’t like the taste of people. On the rare occasions they do attack people, most of the victims survive. It’s always a case of mistaken identity when sharks attack humans. A shark may mistake a person for a sick fish or an aquatic mammal.” She laughed. “Never act like a sick fish or an aquatic mammal.
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A little shaken, Esslinger told the mild-mannered, earnest guy that he should have come up and told the whole group about his shark attack before they dispersed. But he said he was reluctant to share his experience with the kids in the audience. He didn’t want to scare them.
Esslinger turned to the eavesdroppers who had stayed behind and stressed how rare such an attack is. “I mean, sharks do not regularly nip off tourists’ limbs in Fort Lauderdale,” she said. “This guy is not a treasure diver or a fisherman or even a swimmer. I mean he spends virtually no time in salt water. It was like being struck by lightning. I mean there’s probably one person in the whole Chicago area that’s ever been attacked by a shark–and here he is.”
Esslinger and Schonberg have several programs (or will tailor one to a group’s interests) in addition to the one on the innocuousness of sharks. They stress that they’re interesting and talented teachers, not ichthyologists. Other programs deal with the many ways fish feed (“Devour Power”) and the ways fish have adapted to their environments over time (“Fantastic Fish”). They say groups prefer having the two come to them, which saves transportation expenses and the logistical hassle of attending scheduled events elsewhere.
Esslinger adds, “People are really into sharks–that’s our most popular program. There’s so much misinformation, though. But 12-year-old boys seem to know everything about them. They’re fascinated. They could teach the class–they remember all the statistics, they can identify every slide. There are a lot of animals more powerful than sharks, but sharks are what capture the imagination. People are so afraid of being eaten–it’s a terrifying thought.”
