Shark Attack 2011: Shark Bites Man in Florida, PETA Goes on Attack

In the latest Shark Attack 2011, a 21-year-old Longboat Key, Florida man bitten by a shark over the weekend has reportedly undergone surgery and will likely return home within a week. But now the man and his actions that apparently led to the shark attack is now being attacked by PETA, organization for the ethical treatment of animals said.

The shark attack victim, Charles Wichersham, was spearfishing with friends in the Gulf of Mexico off Anna Maria Island on Saturday afternoon. A bull shark bit him in the left thigh. The bite was severe, tearing away flesh down to the bone. Friend got him into a boat and rushed him to a nearby pier where paramedics were awaiting.

The victim's sister told the Herald-Tribune on Monday her brother is doing well.

But now PETA is apparently going on the attack.

Following the shark attack, PETA announced this week plans to run an outdoor advertising campaign attacking the victim for his actions. The organization, according to Central Florida News 13 plans to promote an ad that shows a human 'drumstick' hanging out of a shark's mouth, next to the words, 'Payback is Hell. Go Vegan.'

The organization plans to put the ad on benches and billboards near Anna Maria Island, where the attack occurred this past weekend. PETA will promote its claim that the deadliest killers in the waters aren't sharks -- they're humans, the organization said in a press release.

Humans hook, spear, maim, and kill fish for 'sport' every day, said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman, in a statement. The most dangerous predator of all is the one holding the fishing rod or standing at the 'all you can eat' seafood buffet.

PETA said fish are aware of their surroundings, have complex nervous systems, and feel pain. Yet every year, humans kill tens of millions of sharks and billions of other sea animals in horrifying ways.

Most fish in restaurants and supermarkets are caught using huge commercial fishing nets-sometimes the length of a football field-which catch everything and everyone in their path, PETA said. When hauled up from the deep (along with dolphins, turtles, seals, and other 'trash catch'), fish suffocate or are crushed to death, their eyeballs bulging out of their heads from the pressure of sudden surfacing. Many are still alive when their throats and bellies are cut open.