Did you see the film “Cocaine Bear” with, among others, Kristoffer Hivju at the cinema this spring? The one with the bears who became rabid because they ingested cocaine on detours from a plane drop. Well, maybe it wasn’t so unrealistic with cocaine-addicted bears. Scientists now fear that sharks off the coast of Florida in the USA may have ingested the white powder. – It’s a catchy headline that sheds light on a real problem – that everything we use, make and put in our bodies ends up in the sewer and in natural bodies of water, says Tracy Fanara, one of the researchers on the project, to the UK’s The Guardian. The researchers believe that sharks in Florida may have ingested drugs. Here from Key West Harbor in Florida in the USA. Photo: ROB O’NEAL / AFP Abnormal behavior The researchers have been in the Florida Keys to make this year’s edition of “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel. During the short week they were there, they saw some of the sharks behaving abnormally. A hammerhead shark, a species that normally swims away from humans, now swam straight towards the divers. It also had an erratic swimming pattern. A hammerhead shark was among the species the researchers observed abnormal behaviour. Photo: JOHN BAZEMORE / AP They also saw a brown shark swimming in a ring, while it seemed to focus on something that no one else could see, writes The Guardian. Could come from smuggling The researchers therefore suspect that the sharks may have ingested cocaine. The main theory is that they have got hold of a package with the drugs that has gone astray from smugglers. – If these cocaine balls are a source of pollution, it is very possible that the sharks could be affected by the substance. Cocaine is so soluble that if one of the packages is opened just a little, the substance dissolves in the water, according to Fanara. Here, the US Coast Guard has seized 1.5 tonnes of cocaine off Florida. The picture is from 2012. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / AFP Drug traffickers have dumped tons of cocaine in the sea off Florida, either for it to be picked up by others, or to get rid of evidence. That’s what Sky News writes. – While we were in the Keys filming, packages of cocaine washed ashore twice in one week. So it really is a widespread problem, the researcher believes. Simulated cocaine packages Suspicion was strengthened when the researchers threw out what looked like packages of cocaine near the Florida sharks. They filled the packages with highly concentrated fishmeal, which was supposed to resemble cocaine. According to the researchers, several of the sharks flocked to get a bite of the packages. This is what a package of cocaine can look like. This picture is from the Customs Service’s seizure at Bama in Oslo. Photo: the police – It’s the next best thing, and set their brains on fire. It was crazy, says Fanara, who says the effect could be reminiscent of the effect catnip has on cats. The researchers emphasize that they cannot conclude anything after the investigations, and encourage further research on the subject. Going a lot Ketil Hylland is a professor at the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Oslo (UiO). He says it takes a lot for a shark to ingest enough cocaine to become intoxicated. – It will be diluted very quickly in the sea. But if a shark eats a ball like that, it will get enormous exposure. It has the same type of receptors as we have, so it is clear that it will affect it, says Hylland to news. Professor Ketil Hylland does not think cocaine-addicted sharks are a widespread problem. Photo: University of Oslo / UiO He says that although it is possible that the occasional shark may be exposed to the substance, he does not foresee it being a widespread problem. – But I agree that it is a problem that we release medicines and other substances. A lot of what we use is excreted in public drains, says Hylland.
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