A South African man uploaded footage of a shark swimming really close to shore on Christmas Day, which has since gone viral, but it seems that the footage is not from Strandfontein… or even 2016.
Eugene Arendse posted the video to Facebook on Christmas Day, stating that people need to be aware as there are big sharks in the water at Strandfontein.
The video has already racked up over 10 000 shares and over a quarter of a million views but it seems that the footage is not Strandfontein… or even from 2016.
A bit of research shows that the footage was actually uploaded to YouTube in 2011 by Caitlin Martin… and it seems that the Shark was actually seen in Fish Hoek, a coastal town at the eastern end of the Fish Hoek Valley on the False Bay side of the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town, South Africa.
We’re not sure why someone would post something that isn’t true… or use a video that apparently doesn’t belong to them… perhaps the recognition of breaking some ‘news’ with the thousands of likes and shares has something to do with it?
Either way… sharks do live in the ocean, and have often been seen near the shore (like the video in 2011) but the video posted to Christmas day is not recent and we think it might be safer to go back into the water this summer than share ‘news’ found on someone’s social media feed.
Check out the original footage below and share the article so social media users get the whole story:
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