Instagram Model Attacked by Shark, Pulled Underwater

A Laguna Beach Instagram model is recovering after an incident in the Bahamas in which she was bitten by a shark and pulled underwater while swimming among a group of them. 

The model, Katarina Zarutske, was swimming at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club near a school of nurse sharks. Nurse sharks are generally considered docile toward humans, but they will sometimes bite defensively or if they mistake a human body part for food, which notices at the resort did warn of. The yacht club owner, David Hocher, thinks that's likely what happened, noting that the shark probably mistook her fingers for food, causing it to bite her on the wrist. The shark released its grip fairly quickly, and she was able to cover the wound with her free hand and make it back to shore, after which she went to a hospital for stitches and antibiotics. Thankfully, though the bite left a pretty nasty wound that will likely leave a scar, Zarutske escaped without a more serious or debilitating injury, and she felt no anger toward the shark, noting: "He's a wild animal. I'm a human, and I was in his domain." Always be careful no matter where you're shooting. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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30 Comments

Cue all the terrible people with disgusting comments like "karma is a b*tch" "sounds like she had it coming for swimming there" "no sympathy from me"

I hope anyone who thinks of commenting something like that remembers that we’ve all done ill-advised things when we were teenagers.

I'm mostly referring to the prior story about the three Instagrammers who died in that waterfall. As well as pretty much every other time a similar story is posted.

How about don’t mention them. Don’t cue them, don’t aknowledge them. Internet warriors are here for the long haul and they say some repugnant and insensitive crap. My advice is just don’t “cue” them to be clever or ironic.

That said, hopefully she fully recovers.

cue all of the people judging others.

Judging heartless a**holes is totally acceptable. If we didn't judge anyone, there would be no repercussions for what people say or do.

Looks like you still managed to grab the first position at the head of the hate parade, though.

she was lucky. hopefully won't do a mistake like that again. let it be a warning sign for people thinking of doing something similar.end of story.

I'm thinking the "pulling her under water" is complete fabrication and sensationalism by the news channel. You can clearly see the it bite her on the left wrist, then next shot is her left arm is above water. Wouldn't have happened she was pulled under by it. Its a small addition to the story but I hate that sensationalist bullshit.

Props on her btw for acknowledging she was in the wrong place, and it wasn't because of "dangerous" sharks. (not that sharks can't be dangerous)

It’s not. There’s another photo the news video didn’t show of her submerged.

She earned my respect with the 'I was in their domain' comment.

Call me a wuss. But, I couldn't watch.

with the last name of "Nurse," i wouldnt have seen that coming.

I am glad the person is ok. I am a little saddened that there is a job title called Instagram Model.

Instagram and YouTubers constantly risk their lives and do incredibly stupid stuff in order to collect more and more “followers”. Sometimes they pay with their lives. This “model” is extremely lucky.....

narcissists seem to have little capacity for properly evaluating risk vs. reward.

some people just have to touch a hot stove, especially for the lulz/likes nowadays.

I guess the video will do even more publicity/view/reward/payment with the bite than without it... Well played

yes, talking about how stupid people that died or nearly died is fine just because they did something foolish

There's a little thing called tact and keeping your mouth shut if all you have to spew is vitriol regarding a tragic incident.

Coddling stupid people is what got us where the world is now. Common sense is no where to be found. You don't go swimming near a school of sharks. There is literally no situation where that is not a stupid idea

Coddling is not remotely what I'm doing.

She did this ill-advised thing. She learned her lesson, per her own admission. Why, then, continue to belittle and be a d*ck toward the person?

There's a difference between coddling and just keeping your mouth shut rather than belittling someone for no reason other than the fact that you enjoy it.

glad that she's ok. hopefully nurse sharks won't get a bad name because of this; there's only a few incidents ever reported with these sharks it seems (wikipedia says only 10 between 1958 and 2008, none of which fatal)

Most rewards never come risk-free. You may get spectacular results but knowing you can also get spectacular disasters is equally important. It’s not stupidity, it’s human nature.

“Instagram model” is not a thing.

Well, it is a thing.

But it's a dumb thing.

She not even seemed to taste well to the sharks :-(

This reminds me of the diver feeding a moray eel pieces of hot dogs from a plastic bag who had his thumb bitten off.
Nurse sharks are gentle wild animals. They deserve our respect and protection.
Same for all animals.

Can I see the contract she signed for such location and the insurance policy?

Shark bites arm, "ugh taste like Kalifornia", spits it back out.

Instagram Model = nobody.