Wolfgang Leander-Quotable

We ran across the following blog post the other day from the shark world's Wolfgang Leander. Always in the thick of controversy and never willing to pull a punch, we have come to admire old Wolf's "man against the machine" take on everything from shark fining to filmmakers who do bad things with sharks. That's not to say we always agree with him, but he's on target this week.

Being nice to a tiger shark...

(Photo: Felix Leander / 2008)

I recorded all the Discovery Shark week episodes this week, and unfortunately I found myself fast forwarding through most of them. How absurd was Myth Busters and Surviving Sharks. It is really unfortunate - watching the show almost had a reverse effect on me; I began to doubt if I should dive with Tigers again...that is just crazy talk! Of course I will, actually this coming November.

On the flip side, a friend of mine also watched the show and has become very interested in sharks; he actually came diving with me in the hopes of seeing one - each to their own I guess.

Around the same time that Shark Week aired, Richard Theiss sent me a copy of his film Island of the Great White Shark - and how refreshing it was to watch. It reminded me of what Shark Week used to be - informative, scientific, and not in the least bit sensational.

While Richard directed, wrote, produced, and edited the film - he did not narrate it or appear in front of the camera...unlike a recent docuMEntary... :-)

So Discovery Channel - go back to the roots, take a look at Richard's film and some of your old tapes, and make a comeback in 2009.