An Australian man who climbed atop a dead humpback whale this weekend to entertain friends quickly lost his sense of humor when sharks surrounded the carcass.听
Friends of Harrison Williams, 26, filmed him as he pretended to 鈥渟urf鈥 the carcass floating off the coast of Western Australia. As seen in the video, laughing turned to screaming when friends noticed tiger sharks and at least one great white shark ripping at the rotting animal.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=fmFboLb_f2E
In an interview with CNN affiliate ,聽Williams asserts he鈥檇 seen the sharks before attempting the feat.
鈥淸The sharks were] too busy chomping on the whale, so it wasn鈥檛 too bad,鈥 Williams told Seven Network.
鈥淢um thinks I鈥檓 an idiot,鈥 Williams added. 鈥淒ad鈥檚 not too proud either.鈥 He鈥檚 since apologized for the stunt and admitted his mother is right.
Australia鈥檚 Department of Fisheries was also unhappy with Williams鈥 behavior, according to .听
Australian law stipulates swimmers stay at least 30 meters (98 feet) from whales聽 up to $10,000 Australian dollars. While Williams鈥 actions were risky, authorities said he won鈥檛 be fined; this whale was already dead, and Williams didn鈥檛 remove any part of it, another crime with a maximum $10,000 fine ().
The carcass has since washed up on the beach in Scarborough, bringing feasting sharks shoreward and forcing authorities to close three beaches.