After confessing to repeatedly stabbing a shark in the skull in a Snapchat video that went viral late last month, a Florida man posing as a boat captain was taken into custody on Thursday.
After brutally severing a bull shark in a video dubbed “Bud broke my rod” on a wreck site off Key West on May 22, 26-year-old Zane Garrett was charged with aggravated animal cruelty, according to Local 10.
An anonymous tipster who witnessed the horrific footage and reported it to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for “safety concerns” turned over Garrett, who is listed on Second Nature Charters’ website as a captain.
The man who first uploaded the video was interviewed by officials, who then directly directed them to Garrett.
“Yes, to weapons for the 9-11 inch filet knife, yes to violent behavior for stabbing a shark repeatedly, yes to being concerned over them being dumb enough to post themselves committing a crime,” the tipster stated.
Garrett said, “Yah, that’s me,” after officials showed him the graphic video.
According to Garrett, stabbing one would discourage others, and his actions were consistent with the usual strategy to prevent sharks from snatching fish.
Later, he admitted to repeatedly stabbing the shark as “retaliation” since the predator “had stolen his fish and was a nuisance,” according to the warrant.
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“I asked Mr. Garrett if he thought that the repeated blows would eventually kill the shark, to which he replied, ‘No. It takes a lot more to kill a shark than stabbing it in the head,’” according to the document.
He also admitted to having “stabbed sharks and/or killed sharks without harvesting them onto his boat many times in the past” and “doing a lot more killing” of sharks with weapons.
The “egregious” killing was denounced by authorities for injuring the shark needlessly.
Garrett is being jailed on a $10,000 bond at the Key West jail facility run by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. June 26 is the date of his arrangement.
