Sharks rattle nerves on Cape Cod, but attacks on humans rare
BOSTON — You can’t blame beachgoers on Cape Cod for being jittery after a spate of recent shark sightings, some just a bit too close for comfort but all part of a natural ecosystem that scientists say humans must accept.
Last Wednesday, just off Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, a white shark took a bite out of a paddleboard, throwing its rider into the water. Cleveland Bigelow wasn’t injured but compared the impact to that of a motorcycle being hit by a truck.
Two days earlier at Nauset Beach in Orleans — also just feet from shore — a white shark fed on a seal, turning the sea red with blood. Terrified swimmers and surfers fled the water.
On Thursday, shark sightings prompted the closure of Race Point Beach in Provincetown to swimming for about two hours.