The woman behind the video of a hammerhead shark being pulled ashore on Singer Island is now receiving death threats on social media.
Leigh Cobb said those include messages from people she doesn't know saying things such as “we are going to do you" and “know that word regret, get used to it because you’re gonna.”
She said she's received 16 private messages of an offensive and vulgar nature as well as many comments on her original Facebook post with the video, which she has since made private.
She said the comments don't bother her. What bothered her more was watching the hammerhead shark get pulled to land.
“The reality is it makes me even more determined to get this stopped," Cobb said.
FWC is investigating Thursday's incident.
Hammerhead sharks are protected and if they’re caught they have to be released immediately and unharmed, according to FWC regulations.
“Once you get them onto shore, their body weight kind of messes up them internally and then there’s not any water flowing through their gills and usually after they get thrown back they usually kind of don’t make it," said Alexandre Carrier, a photographer and safety diver for Florida Shark Diving.
Carrier said sharks should be kept in water that goes to the base of their dorsal fin at the very lowest.
"The best thing to do would be to release it as quickly as possible and try to unhook it in some deeper water and try not to bring it all the way to shore," he said.
Pete Schulz, of Fishing Headquarters in Jupiter, said he watched the video and from what he saw nothing illegal occurred.
