Great white sharks on cape cod: 5 ways to keep your dog (and you!) from being bitten by a shark on your cape cod vacation
1. stay close to shore when swimming on outer cape cod beaches
Keep your dog close to shore on outer Cape beaches where Great White Sharks are known to hunt seals. This includes Monomoy Island, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown.
fetching a tennis ball in the water on cape cod beaches is great fun, but certainly not fun enough to become shark bait. so keep your dog close to shore.
2. avoid swimming near seals
Avoid letting your dog swim in areas where seals are swimming close to shore. The closer the seals to shore, the more likely they're trying to avoid a great white shark. on south beach in chatham, seals can be observed swimming inside of the dropoff point onshore to avoid sharks.
The sharks are hunting seals.
healthy Seals can outswim sharks.
Your dog (and you!) cannot. so be smart.
3. avoid swimming alone in shark-infested cape cod waters
the easiest way to reduce the odds a great white shark bites you is to Stay close to other people when swimming. While it may not prevent an attack, swimming in the middle of a crowd will certainly will lower the odds that you or your dog will be the one who gets bitten.
There's nothing scarier than being 100 yards offshore by yourself on a surfboard and having a big seal splash its head up 5 feet behind you. don't go it alone. having even one person next to your cuts your chances of getting eaten in half.
4. don't do anything that is known to trigger great white sharks to attack
great white sharks locate food by sensing vibrations and smells in the water. flailing and splashing simulate injured prey to sharks, and can cause an attack response. avoid splashing, kicking or struggling motions when swimming. dogs who swim poorly are sitting ducks.
don't go in the water on cape cod if you are bleeding or have open wounds. great white sharks have exceptional senses of smell. scent is detected in animals by the olfactory bulbs, and these bulbs compose 14% of great whites' brain mass. blood, urine, and other scents will alert great whites to you and your dog's presence and put you both on the menu.
thankfully the era of the 1980's neon-bright wetsuit colors has subsided. bright colors were thought to attract sharks. wetsuits are mostly black now, but unfortunately so are the seals. from below the profile of a paddling surfer resembles a seal. bodyborders wearing fins look even more seallike, complete with the kicking tail. they might as well dangle a bloody turkey off of their leashes. consider surfing near the protected beach area where lifeguards are on the lookout for sharks. a hike down marconi beach in the early evening might provide some great waves to ride, but getting pulled from a barrel by a two ton great white can ruin a good mood fast.
5. Don’t buy into the great white shark hysteria created by the news media.
Sharks have always hunted for prey off the shores off of Cape Cod. no one has died after getting bitten by a shark in Massachusetts since a poor fellow in Buzzard’s Bay back in 1936 - and that shark wasn't even a great white.
recently there have been more great white shark sightings off of the cape cod coast, due mainly to an increase in food supply due to human efforts to protect grey seals. sharks prefer the calorie-rich seals over bony dogs and humans, but at the same time its hard to resist and easy meal.
eventually someone will get bitten by a shark on cape cod.
don't let it be you - or your dog!
would you like to offer great white shark safety suggestions or share your review of dog-friendly things to do on cape cod? please email us
