AUSTRALIA: Australians fearful after multiple shark attacks

Record ID: 353885

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: Australians fearful after multiple shark attacks
  • Date: 12th January 2009
  • Summary: PEOPLE SWIMMING
  • Embargoed: 27th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA1FMQPZDVF67J3CCVS6Y29RRBD
  • Story Text: Australians and tourists are fearful of more shark attacks after the third shark attack in the country in two days.
    An Australian swimmer was attacked by a shark on Monday (January 12), but forced it to release its bite on his leg by punching it -- it was the third shark attack in Australia in two days.
    Steven Foggarty, 24, was bitten on his right leg by a bull shark as he snorkelled in the mouth of Lake Illawarra, south of Sydney.
    "I just saw the blood all over both feet and had a quick look to make sure both legs were there and they were there," Foggarty told local media as he stood on crutches outside hospital.
    Foggarty said he punched the shark to make it let go of his leg. "I just turned and started swinging. I think I got one on him," he said. He suffered 40 puncture wounds to his calf.
    Foggarty said at first witnesses thought the attack was a joke.
    "I was screaming out for help and everyone just looked at me and just kept walking like nothing had happened," he said.
    Witnesses, however, soon realised the seriousness of the attack and said Foggarty appeared as white as a ghost.
    "I got here just as they brought him here on the boat, they just laid him up there and someone wrapped him up in a blanket," said witness Cherie Yeaman.
    Off Australia's southern island state of Tasmania, an Australian surfer punched a five-metre (16-ft) long shark in the head as he rescued his 13-year-old cousin who had been bitten on the leg and dragged beneath the water on Sunday.
    The pair were surfing when the white-pointer grabbed the girl's leg and dragged her down twice. Her cousin, Syb Mundy, 20, paddled over, punched the shark, put the girl onto his surfboard with him and paddled into shore.
    Mundy told local radio on Monday that hitting the shark on the head was like hitting a brick wall because of its denseness.
    In another near-tragedy incident on Sunday (January 11), a surfer on Australia's northeast coast survived a shark bite and paddled himself to shore with a 40-centimetre (16-inch) gash in his left thigh.
    Jono Beard, 31, was surfing with a few friends, watching some dolphins swim by, when he was bitten. He paddled for 80 metres (90 yards) into the shore, all the while shadowed by the shark.
    Beard was flown by helicopter to hospital where he underwent surgery to a deep gash to his leg.
    A 51-year-old Australian man was killed by a Great White Shark on December 27 while he was snorkelling off a beach south of Perth in Western Australia.
    Swimmers on Sydney beaches were not deterred from entering the water on Monday, however many said they were scared of being attacked and would only swim in the shallow water.
    "Not too scared, not to go too far out but at medium where I can still stand is all right for me, so if I have to get out quickly I can,"
    said resident Stephen Jabro.
    Another resident John Martin said although Australians were afraid of sharks many people realise the chance of being attacked is slim.
    "I think all Australians have an intrinsic fear of sharks, none of us want to become part of the food chain. But every summer we get the same beat-up about shark stories and no-one I know has been eaten by a shark," he said.
    Many shark species, including the Great White, are protected in Australian waters and some wildlife officials believe they are venturing closer to popular beaches searching for food.
    Despite the recent attacks, there have only been about 60 fatal shark attacks in the past 50 years, according to the Australian Shark Attack File at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.
    Shark experts said the attacks did not indicate sharks attacks were increasing but simply an 'unfortunate coincidence', ABC Australia reported.
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