INJURED – 23 May 2012 — Jacksonville Beach, Florida, US — surfer bitten

Chad Renfro in hospital with bandaged foot after his shark bite wound was stitched up

Chad Renfro, 22, was bitten on the foot by what is believed to be either a 4-5 foot Bull or Lemon shark while surfing off south Jacksonville Beach, Florida in the United States.

He said he was paddling to catch a wave when he felt something bite into his left foot.

“Immediately I knew what it was, so I just paddled back in as fast as I could — caught the next wave in.” He hobbled ashore with blood going everywhere, he told media.

“I was sitting there and people kept looking at me.”

“I was trying to get someone to help me, and then one girl had walked over and I told her to call 911, and then I saw the lifeguards drive by, and so I just hollered for them and they came over.”

Renfro had two or three cuts on one foot and his ankle. The bite severed a nerve, ripped a tendon and took part of his bone. It took 85 stitches to close the wounds.

Renfro said once he’s healed, he will not be not afraid to get back in the water, saying: “Who gets attacked by a shark twice?”

Sources:
NewsJax
Action News Jax

PIC source:
Video still from…
Action News Jax

INJURED – 30 May 2010 – fishing boat, NW of Tarpon Springs, Florida, US – fisherman attacked

Mike Seymore, 49, was bitten on the left leg while trying to remove a hook from a 4-ft lemon shark he had caught and pulled into the fishing boat he was on. He was fishing with a partner about 50 miles northwest of Tarpon Springs, Florida, US. The incident happened early morning Sunday, 30 May 2010.

Seymore was airlifted from the boat and transferred to Tampa General Hospital.

Seymore told media:

“I got the shark in the boat and he jumped one way, I jumped another and he grabbed my leg. It was about a 4-foot lemon shark. It’s a pretty deep bite and there will be at least 10 staples.”

He said they quite often catch sharks but cut them loose so they can get the hooks back.

“This one got me.

“He let go eventually, after he ripped a hole in my leg. It’s a pretty big gash, 6 inches long, but it’s wide open right now.”

Doctor stitched up the wound and released him a few hours later.

No other details were reported.

Sources
TampaBay.com

KEYC News (video)

INJURED – 28 April 2010 — Everglades National Park, Florida, USA – research diver attacked

Shark researcher Dr Kirk Gastrich, 29, was bitten on the left forearm while ushering  a six-foot lemon shark toward the boat he and two other researchers were using in the Everglades National Park, Florida, USA.

Dr Gastrich is a marine biologist at Florida International University.

According to media reports the shark moved erratically and bit him on his left forearm.

The other two researchers applied basic first aid to the victim after the shark bite; when they returned to the Flamingo Marina, park rangers administered additional first aid to the bite.

He was then airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital and was reported in a stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.

FIU director of Environment and Society Dr Michael Heithaus, said: The waters were really murky. He was actually back near the tail of the animal and he didn’t see it move, and it reared up, and normally you’d be way out of the way, and he just didn’t see it coming.

“Next thing you know, it bit him and wouldn’t let go of his elbow.”

Heithaus said Gastrich was researching sharks at the mouth of Shark River near Bailey Key, just west of the Florida Keys. He explained: “We bring him up next to the boat and let them swim slowly forward because that usually keeps them calm. We collect small tissue samples from them because that let us know what they are eating. We put a tag in the dorsal fin so we know where the individual is and we can measure it later. We get measurements of its length and then we let them go.”

According to officials, the bite cannot be considered an attack, since the victim was conducting research. Linda Friar of Everglades National Park said, “You never know when you’re dealing with wild animals, whether they’re in the water or on land, how they may respond to research. Usually, they’re very cautious and careful. What they do with the shark research, from what I understand, is they bring the shark close to the boat and they try and measure them for size. I don’t know exactly what they were doing at the time, but this particular shark, apparently, did not appreciate it.”

Sources

7 News (early)

7News (later)