Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has spoken out about the death of his Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Tamayo Perry, who died from a shark attack in June. Writing on Instagram, Mr. Depp stated, “Even though it was some years ago now, I remember Tamayo well. A lovely man with a huge heart and a zest for life.” Depp also included a link to a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $100,000 for Perry’s family.
Perry was a professional surfer who appeared in several films, including Blue Crush, The Big Bounce, and Six Days in Paradise. He died in mid-June at Malaekahana Beach in Hawaii when a shark attacked him while surfing. Onlookers called emergency services to the beach, who brought the actor on shore but pronounced him dead at the scene.
Having spent many years surfing in Hawaii, Mr. Perry was considered one of the world’s greatest, but this was not his first perilous encounter with the waves. He had spoken in the past about a “near-death experience” in the water, where he spent much of his time and where he had been employed as a lifeguard.
Official Hawaiian records state that Perry’s fatal injuries were “loss of the right forearm and severe lacerations to the right thigh.” The shark attacked him off the coast of Oahu, where such incidents are rare – they are far more common in other regions of the US state.
According to a report in 2018, the Island of Maui experienced double the number of shark-related incidents, and scientists were unsure why. Experts decided to conduct a study and electronically tagged 96 sharks to track them for a period of six years. They concluded that the “insular shelf” surrounding Maui was an attractive destination for sharks thanks to its food supply. As sharks flock there for food, other sharks, attracted by the chance of finding a mate, follow suit, resulting in a much larger population that is seen around Oahu.
Nevertheless, the Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resources maintains that shark incidents are rare in the state. Around four encounters are recorded per year, of which most are non-life-threatening.
