Florida man arrested for stabbing shark in revenge: “It had stolen his fish”

A man in Florida has been arrested after stabbing a bull shark in what has been called an “egregious case of animal cruelty” by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC).

On May 22, a graphic Snapchat video titled “Bud broke my rod” captured Zane Garrett, a 26-year-old, stabbing a bull shark repeatedly in the head near Key West’s Vandenberg Wreck site.

The video quickly went viral and alarmed viewers, prompting an anonymous tip to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) under a “public safety concerns” report.

Garrett, who was listed on Second Nature Charters’ website as a boat captain, does not hold a proper captain’s license—a fact confirmed by wildlife officials and part of an earlier probe into his false self-representation. After the tip, FWC tracked the video to Garrett via the original Snapchat poster and interviewed him at Historic Charter Boat Row in Key West When shown the footage, Garrett admitted, “Yah, that’s me”.

Initially, the disgusting views of the man came to light: he claimed his actions aimed to deter sharks from stealing his catch, describing shark stabbing as “common,” but later confessed his motives were more personal—an act of “revenge” because the shark had taken his fish.

In fact, he shockingly admitted to past incidents of indiscriminate shark violence, involving both firearms and knives, without ever harvesting them. “When I asked why he stabbed the shark if he knew that it didn’t work, Mr. Garrett admitted that it was more for revenge because the (shark) had stolen his fish and was a nuisance,” the warrant states.

“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.’”

Authorities added that Garrett also admitted he “did a lot more killing” of sharks with guns. A horrible individual all round, then.

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