Great White Sharks Swarm And Kill Kiteboard Surfer in South Florida
Stephen Schafer-Kiteboard Shark bite victim
Stephen Schafer,38,a Kiteboard surfer,was found mortally wounded with bite wounds about 500 yards off Stuart Beach on Florida’s Atlantic coast. He had been attacked after being surrounded and repeatedly bitten by what may have been a group of juvenile great white sharks.
A lifeguard first saw the man in distress at about 4pm, and paddled out to him to aid him, and saw that he was still surrounded by a swarm of sharks that were repeatedly biting the victim.
The lifeguard scared the predators off with his paddle then paddled back to shore with the victim.Paramedics administered emergency care,but the surfer died later at the hospital,Martin Memorial North Medical Centre, from his wounds.
He had multiple bite wounds,including an 10-inch bite on his right thigh and teeth marks on his right and left buttocks.
Neil Hammerschlag,a University of Miami Professor who is an expert on sharks, reports in the Sun Sentinel…it’s too early to blame young great whites for a deadly attack…”Great whites are occasional visitors to our waters,” said Hammerschlag, who has studied the predatory habits of the killer sharks.
“But you can’t say it’s a great white unless someone saw the attack or examined the wound.”
(SOURCE-http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/fl-shark-attack-stuart-20100204,0,1233809.story)
A day after the fatal attack on Stephen Schafer,life guards in Palm Beach counted more than a hundred sharks and were considering whether to close the beaches.The beach is not that far away from where the kiteboarder was attacked, and killed.
It is extremely rare for sharks to go after humans. When sharks do bite humans, it’s generally because they mistake them for fish.
Schafer was Martin County’s first shark attack fatality since 1882. And there have been just 14 deaths in Florida waters due to sharks, authorities said.
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Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1248530/Kite-surfer-dies-mass-shark-attack-Florida.html
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