Sharks found off Brazil’s coast with cocaine in their system. The shocking discovery may be the result of drugs ingested from human poo.
Reacting to the news, social media is doing what it does best and churning out joke after joke with one or two references to Jaws and Cocaine Bear.
“Do they get a diving ban” and “Free willy is finished now it’s Free Charlie,” are a couple of our favourites – more to follow.
READ MORE: ‘Deadliest beach’ where surfers and swimmers are dying in huge numbers revealed
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Scientists at biological science research centre Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, tested 13 Brazilian sharpnose sharks swimming in the South Atlantic Ocean, near Rio de Janeiro. They found every one of the apex predators had high levels of the Class A drug in their liver and muscles.
(Image: Getty Images)
In fact, on dissecting and testing wild sharks brought in on small fishing boats, researchers found the beasts had cocaine levels 100 times greater than other ocean-dwelling animals previously tested.
In a paper published in Science of the Total Environment, boffins suggested the sharks could be getting their hit of the drug from cocaine snorters’ poo as it is flushed into the ocean via untreated sewage.
Scientists also believe the sharks could be getting buzzed from the waste from illicit drug factories, and were under “chronic exposure” to the drug.
Research team member, Dr Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis said this was “due to human use of cocaine in Rio de Janeiro and the discharge of human urine and faeces by sewage outfalls, as well as from illegal labs”.
(Image: Guardia di Finanza press office/)
The team also investigated whether sharks were snacking on stashes dumped into the water by smugglers, however, the team thought this was less likely.
They fear the drug could reduce sharks’ life expectancy, damage their eyesight and affect their hunting skills, however boffins said there was no evidence the coke was making the beasts “go nuts”, reports The Telegraph.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Dr Tracy Fanara, an ecotoxicology and environmental engineering expert from the University of Florida, said: “They may not be going nuts from the cocaine but it could reduce their life expectancy.”
This follows reports of cocaine-fuelled sharks going on frenzied attacks on surfers in the US, after consuming drugs dumped into the sea by drug lords.
(Image: Secretaria Nacional Antidrogas P)
Smugglers are thought to be dropping packages of the illegal drug either to be picked up later or just to escape law enforcement before the apex predators come along and munch them, leading to them getting high.
Batches of the drug have been known to wash up on Florida beaches in particular.
We promised you more puns from X, so here they are…
One user wrote: “From the producers of Cocaine Bear.”
“Brings a whole new narrative to the new ‘Jaws’ film,” another quipped.
A third joked: “Brazilian sharks on the Colombian marching powder… interesting.”
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