On July 27th, Julie Dimperio Holowach, a retiree and former director of Kipling North America, a leather goods company, died as a result of an attack by a great white shark. She was 63 years old. She was swimming with her daughter in the waters around Bailey Island, located in the northeastern United States near the Canadian border.
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Kayakers brought her lifeless body onto their boat and took it to the beach. She was immediately pronounced dead. Authorities also found a tooth belonging to the shark, allowing them to identify the animal as a great white shark.
A rare attack
The victim's body must undergo extensive analysis to determine the circumstances under which she was attacked. Great white sharks are not usually present in these waters, which are much too cold for them.
With global warming, the seas and oceans are getting warmer, bringing sharks further from their natural habitats. This is the second attack ever recorded in Maine, and the first that led to the death of a person according to the International Shark Attack File. This database tracks shark attacks around the world. However, in the first attack in 2010, it was not a great white shark, but a porbeagle shark that injured a diver.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources has instructed swimmers to stay away from schools of fish since it is often at this level that we can cross paths with these predators.
