300-Pound Giant Spotted Eagle Ray Leaps Out Of Water Body Slamming Female Tourist In The Florida Keys… Strangest Animal Attraction Ever!!!

A 300-pound spotted eagle ray put a “Chris Brown beat down” on tourist Jenny Hausch on the chartered boat Friday in the Florida Keys, with her husband and three children on board as well.(Source)

Eagle Ray attack

Jennifer and David Hausch are on vacation from Illinois in Florida with their family, and were sightseeing and  photographing a group of eagle rays as they flew out of the water, from the deck of the  boat,at the time.(Huffpo)

Giant spotted eagle ray on boat

(SLIDESHOW: SPOTTED EAGLE RAY LANDS IN BOAT)

Kelly Klein of Two Chicks Charters, the captain of the boat Jennifer and her family were on, said that …”These eagle rays, they were flying through the air, these giant things go out of the water and slam back down.”(MSNBC)

Jennifer, who was taking pictures in the front of the boat said that she was preparing her camera to take another picture when the incident occurred.(CNN)

Giant leaping Manta Ray caught on tape...

“…Next thing I know, it hit me square in the chest. I fell backwards and fell down,” she said.(Source)

Just like most sea animals that find itself out of water, the 8 foot, 300 pound Giant Eagle ray, who also has a 10 foot long tail, thrashed  and flopped about on her frantically trying to swim away, as if it was still in the water.(Source)

The size relationship between humans and a giant sting ray

The danger from the animal is the fact that it has a long and lethal sharp barb, which is like a double-sided sharp knife, attached to its tail for defense. Many fans are left with the memory of ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin’s death on September 4, 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.(Wiki)

The late Steve Irwin and family

(Stingray leaps from water killing women-Video)

In 2008, a spotted eagle ray jumped out of the waters near Marco Island and broke a women’s neck that was on board, due to the impact of the collision with the giant sting ray.

Marco Island has a lot of giant leaping eagle rays that attract tourist

Luckily for Hausch and all aboard the vessel,the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was on patrol near their boat and heard the tourists’ screams.

The officers waited for the giant sting ray to wear itself out before tying a rope around it and pulling it into the water, where it swam away.(Source)

Timothy Mullican, DVM

This was an unusual and potentially deadly encounter with what many think is a rare, a leaping fish, but according to Timothy J. Mullican, vice president of zoological operations at the Georgia Aquarium, “…many ocean animals do jump out of the water when either chasing prey or trying to elude a predator…”(Source)

Giant Eagle ray jumped on women in boat

No harm came to Jenny Hausch, her family, or the giant eagle ray, except of course, for some frayed nerves…