Everything seems calm as Scott Haraguchi's kayak bobs up and down off the island of Oahu. But suddenly - wham! An enormous tiger sharkA solitary, aggressive shark found in warm seas. comes streaking through the water and crashes against the small vessel. As Haraguchi cries out in alarm, it disappears as quickly as it came.

That was last Friday. The video of the incident has since become one of the most watched on the BBC's website.

Just one day earlier, 13-year-old Ella Reed survived a shark attack in Florida. She was sitting waist-deep in the water when she suddenly felt something hitting her stomach, followed by an acute pain.

The shark "was about as big as me," she says, "and I looked down and it was biting my stomach. And that was when I just freaked out and did everything I could to get it off me."

Ella punched the shark repeatedly - but it came straight back and bit her on the leg: "It wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to use my arm and use my hand too, so it got my arm and my finger."

Luckily Ella was able to escape onto the beach. In hospital she received 19 stitches.

Around the world, two fatal shark attacks have been recorded so far this year, one off the Mexican coast and the other in an Australian river.

Sharks are not the only creatures that have claimed lives recently. In January, a woman and child were killed by a polar bear in an Alaskan village. Last month a runner was killed by a brown bear in Italy.

In KashmirThe region was not allocated to either India or Pakistan in the original partition. It is still a disputed territory, as both countries claim authority over it., around 200 people have been killed and 2,000 injured by wild animals since 2011. Their attackers included leopards and brown bears.

According to a report published earlier this year,¹ attacks by wild animals have increased steadily since 1950. It concludes that population increase has resulted in humans encroachingIntruding on or slowly advancing towards. on areas where animals used to roam undisturbed.

One ecologist, Professor Briana Abrahms of Washington University, argues that climate change is partly responsible. As the ice in the Arctic melts, polar bears are more likely to come into contact with humans. In Africa, droughts have led to increased attacks by lions on cattle.

Another ecologist, Christopher Schell, warns that these patterns pose a vital question: "How do we create spaces that allow for both wildlife and humans to coexist?"

Yes: Humans have been ruining the lives of other creatures by hunting them and destroying the places where they live. No wonder they are biting back.

No: You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork or falling coconut than an animal attack. The simple fact is that with 8 billion humans crowding the planet, some friction is inevitable.

Or... Humans have become too relaxed about animals. Because we are brought up on cute pictures of them in story books, and so used to seeing them on videos, we forget the danger they pose in real life.