This might sound obvious to you, but apparently the world needs a reminder: Sharks have razor-sharp teeth, and they're not afraid to use humans as chew toys if they aren't treated with the respect they deserve.
Instagram model Katarina Zarutskie learned that lesson the hard way when a nurse shark decided to chomp on her arm during a photo shoot in the Bahamas. The 19-year-old was trying to get a cool shot for her over 36,000 followers when one of the usually harmless beasts decided to take a bite of her arm.
Spoiler alert: Katarina is doing fine after a couple rounds of antibiotics. She didn't lose the arm, but she does have a gnarly scar and one incredibly scary story to tell for the rest of her life. And that's not to mention that the bite was caught on camera!
Check out this crazy story, and then make sure to never do what Katarina did.
This is Katarina.
She lives in Houston but was on vacation in the Bahamas with her boyfriend's family.
And while they were on vacation, Katarina made sure to find time to take some model shots.
She also made a point to pose with the local wildlife, like this starfish.
The Shark Photo
Katarina noticed some nurse sharks swimming, and since she knew they were relatively nonthreatening, she thought it would be the perfect place for a photo.
It's not uncommon for tourists to swim with nurse sharks, so that little guy going for her left arm was genuinely impossible to predict.
This is the scariest photo in the series; while the shark did let go rather quickly, it still managed to yank her hard enough to terrify everyone involved.
Thankfully, Katarina kept her wits about her.
By keeping the injured arm in the air, she slowed the bleeding and didn't let any extra blood drop into the water — which would have riled up the sharks even more.
She quickly got out of the water and was given treatment for her injuries. Katarina says that she knows she's "very, very blessed and fortunate" that the wound wasn't worse.
And she has an amazing attitude about the entire event. This is the caption from her original post about the accident.
Not many people would keep on smiling after suffering a shark attack!
After all the attention this story has gotten, she's turned her account to private.
Despite her positive take on the incident, Katarina got a lot of not-so-nice comments from people.
Since everyone began discussing the attack, Katarina hasn't received a ton of support.
Most people put the blame squarely on her shoulders, and the fact she was posing for a picture isn't helping the public opinion.
While her social media is definitely blowing up, she has not been getting the most supportive messages.
But Katarina is doing well and has still has two arms. And she's still a shark lover — when asked if she would recommend swimming with the pointy-toothed fish to other tourists, she responded, "I would recommend people to do it but be smart about it. You are in their home."
Great attitude and great advice!
