Haters Hound Houston Instagram Model Bitten By a Shark: Young Woman’s Accused of Giving Sharks a Bad Name — All in the Pursuit of a ‘Gram

If you’re an Instagram model, chances are the haters will eat you alive. That’s definitely true of Houston-based Katarina Zarutskie — but in her case, the trolls waited until a five-foot-long shark got the first bite.

And she’s got the scar on her arm to prove it.

Although Zarutskie says she’s been plagued with backlash, personal attacks and threatening messages since her close encounter, her Instagram following has grown astronomically. Sometimes it’s worth it to swim with the sharks.

When the shark story went viral last Monday, Zarutskie had 13,000 followers. That number has since shot up to 86,000. This despite the fact she decided to make her Instagram account private last Wednesday.

Last month, the 19-year-old international business and nursing student at the University of Miami jetsetted to the Bahamas to fill her social media page with envy-inducing photos of her on white sand beaches and in the clear blue water.

On a day trip to Staniel Cay in the Exumas on June 7, the model spotted a group of nurse sharks in a pool. She dipped into the waters for a once-in-a-lifetime photo op with the creatures, which are typically known to be docile.

Within minutes, a nurse shark latched its sharp teeth in her left wrist and pulled her underwater. After a brief struggle, Zarutskie clutched her wound closed and swam to nearby steps to get out of the water and away from the shark.

Her boyfriend’s father caught the whole shark shebang on camera: the moment the shark bit her wrist, her being dragged under, her emerging with her hand clamped around her wrist to prevent blood loss.

Zarutskie posted the photos, writing “PSA: Sharks are cute and can nibble at times if not careful.”

Shark Bait’s Instagram Blacklash

Some Instagrammers weren’t too impressed, thinking the model hadn’t quite acted like a model citizen. Common complaints? Zarutskie was acting exploitative by just doin’ it for the ‘gram. And worse, she was fanning fear of sharks.

“Act like prey get eaten like prey… the sharks are not to blame here,” one user wrote. “Sharks are in serious need of shaking the false perception held by far too many that sharks are somehow monsters or mindless man-eaters…

“This is clearly a grab for media attention and it’s only doing damage to sharks. It’s disgusting.”

“Tagging news stations is proof you’re desperate for your face to be on the news. You’re the problem with our culture,” yet another wrote. There was even talk of people feeding the sharks in the very waters where Zarutskie was swimming, making her decision even more dangerous.

Now, the model is speaking out. In lieu of a scenic bikini pic, her most recent post on social media is a six-part explanation of her scrape with danger — a brief video and five detailed written comments.

“I truly believe this incident has been blown completely out of proportion by media outlets to create drama for their viewers and readers,” Zarutskie says.

In spite of her claims that the story became sensationalized, she did tell several outlets, including Buzzfeed, that she was lucky to have her hand.

But she holds herself accountable. “I overstepped my boundaries and I have never once blamed sharks for what happened. Sharks are wild animals and it was an uncontrollable and unpredictable situation,” Zarutskie wrote, sharing her past experience in the ocean surfing and swimming.

“Nurses are docile creatures. I was in the shark’s home and it was my fault for being in their domain.”

In the text, Zarutskie notes that she had seen information on swimming with nurse sharks that stated it was a typically safe activity, and that local men at the docks told her it was safe to enter that pool. The Instagram aficionado claims not to have seen a sign posted nearby warning that nurse sharks can bite.

“Everything was calm and amazing as I swam with the congregation of nurse sharks for about three minutes,” Zarutskie says. She asked her boyfriend’s father to snap some shots. It was only when local men started “insisting” she lay back to pose that she nearly became chum.

“That’s where I overstepped, making a mistake which resulted in a small accident because I was too excited about what was going on and didn’t make the best decision,” she writes.

About a month and a week after the incident, Zarutskie’s friend told someone they knew at a news station about what happened. She had not posted about the story previously, she writes.

“From there, the media outlets began to exaggerate the story more and more in an attempt to dramatize the situation further to garner more attention,” she writes.

The Instagram model claims that only the BBC shared her story the way she wanted it told. She makes her case in all caps writing: “IT WAS NOT THE SHARK’S FAULT AND I OVERSTEPPED THE BOUNDARIES WHICH IS WHY THIS INCIDENT COULD HAVE OCCURRED.”

After all this exposure, Zarutskie says she wants to use her platform to partner with marine wildlife conservationists and spread positive messages about the species.

From shark bait to shark advocate? What a world.