Great White Shark lunges at woman on fishing trip off Tybee Island: See full details

The encounter with a great white shark on Tybee Island, Georgia, took an unexpected turn when a woman tried petting the creature, and it turned its head and lunged in her direction.

Footage of the event was posted on the social media site Facebook by Jimmy Lee Armel, who created the nonprofit organization Knot Lucky, which offers free fishing excursions for military veterans and their families while conducting research on capturing and tagging great white sharks. The woman, named Jen, was one of the participants of the White Shark Tagging Program of the organization.

"In one second, Jen, one of our veterans, is laying her hand on a wild white shark as if it's the family dog, and in the next second that shark whips around and lunges towards her. Everybody on the boat felt that one in their chest," Armel wrote.

According to Armel, the woman was not in any danger because the crew handled the situation properly and the shark did not come closer to hurt her. There were no injuries, and all fingers were still there.

The shark was not tagged, however, because the crew never had a safe opportunity and would not force the process. It was released and swam away.

Each tagged shark is named after a fallen service member, combining the program’s scientific work with its mission of honouring those who died in service. Armel said the program has tagged ten sharks so far, with more expected this winter as great whites return to Tybee.

University of Sydney shark researcher Chris Pepin-Neff condemned the petting attempt, calling it “A hard no.” he said it stresses the animal and “Sends the wrong message to the public that the sharks can be petted and can be touched.”