A video showing a five-year-old girl swimming with sharks has caused outrage among internet users, who have labelled her parents as reckless and irresponsible.
The video (shown below) was uploaded onto YouTube by Elana and David Barnes from Connecticut and shows their daughter Anaia snorkelling in the Bahamas on holiday, close to a group of sharks.
It also features a scene above the water in which several of the sharks are feeding on a piece of meat.
The sharks in the video are Lemon, Nurse and Reef sharks, which are all considered to be on the more mild-mannered side. Apparently the company involved — Power Boat Adventures — has been offering the trip to swim with sharks for 20 years and there have been no attacks.
The parents defended their decision as the sharks are considered by experts to be rarely aggressive, and say that Anaia was with an instructor for the entire time she was in the water.
They told ABC's Good Morning America TV programme that they had researched the risks and decided it was worth it to nurture an adventurous spirit in their daughter.
"At no point did I feel like this was dangerous. Like going on a rollercoaster, you're probably not going to fall off but it's still scary," Mrs Barnes said. "Life is too short to be boring."
"There's just always risk assessments in life every day," David Barnes told GMA. "I'm more concerned that they don't put seatbelts in school buses."
You can watch the video below:
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