BETHUNE BEACH — As Judy Fischman swam in the Atlantic Ocean here Thursday, she suddenly found herself lifted above the water on the back of a large dark animal.

“My first thought was ‘I hope this is a manatee,’ ” Fischman said Friday. “Then I saw the black tail.”

“Shark,” she thought. “Then I saw other sharks and I thought, ‘My God, how am I going to escape a whole group of sharks?’ ”

From her vantage point on the street overlooking the scene, Martha Williams wondered the same thing.

Williams and her husband Ron had stepped out of their car to look out at the ocean. They first noticed a woman swimming alone, a couple hundred feet off shore. It was about 7:15 p.m. Then, as they watched, she said sharks appeared in the water, swimming parallel to the shore between the beach and the lone swimmer.

“I said to Ron, ‘Oh my God, I hope they totally ignore her, just don’t even see her.’ Then all of a sudden they all veer off and they’re all heading to her,” Williams said Friday. “I about screamed and said, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, they’re heading right to her, right to her.’ ”

As they watched, the ocean surface around Fischman erupted in churning water and the swimmer was suddenly lifted above the surface of the wave, arms and legs flailing, she said. “It was just so frightening.”

Back in the water, Fischman said she realized she “was on the back of a huge shark. There was another shark next to me.”

“I screamed,” she said, “but I don’t remember what I screamed.”

Fischman said she remembered advice she’d seen on television for fighting off sharks — giving them “a good punch and let them know you could hurt them.” She started punching the animal. As it seemed to roll on its side, she said it seemed to sort of wrap its tail around her.

“Then a wave came. All of a sudden they were gone,” she said. “They probably realized I’m not food and let go.”

“Maybe they thought I was a seal,” she said. “I had on a black bathing suit.”

Ron Williams ran down to the beach expecting to find the swimmer in need of medical attention, but instead she walked back to shore.

“It was really something,” Martha Williams said.

Fischman told her story to a Beach Patrol officer Thursday night, and on Friday afternoon, Fischman and Martha Williams spoke with George Burgess, director of the shark attack file at the University of Florida. Burgess isn’t yet sure what kind of animal surfaced under Fischman. He said it could have been a shark, or it could have been some kind of dolphin or small whale.

Williams and Fischman agreed to fill out witness statements for Burgess and he’ll try to figure out whether it was a shark encounter.

“It was possible it was a shark attack,” he said. “It’s also possible it was an encounter with a marine mammal.”

Sharks were spotted elsewhere in Volusia and Brevard counties on Thursday.Volusia’s Fischman swims regularly for exercise and said she often sees sharks. She likes to swim far enough out to get past the breakers, in water not quite 6 feet deep.

Fischman, a Bethune Beach resident since 2002, figured maybe a guardian angel was watching out for her. She emerged from the encounter with nothing but scrapes on her legs. And, she headed right back into the water on Friday afternoon.

She’s also had some close encounters with manatees during the past couple of years. “It’s very startling,” she said. “You can get lifted out of the water.”

via Woman: Shark took me for a ride – News.

CBS  Clayton Schulz told his worried mom nothing would happen when he was surfing — then something did. The 20-year-old pitcher for the University of North Florida was surfing with his girlfriend last Friday off Jacksonville Beach when a shark attacked his left foot. It took over 400 stitches to repair that damage. Pictures: Swimming with the Sharks On “The Early Show,” Schultz shared his story, saying first, hes pretty lucky to still have all five toes. He said hes lucky the shark reached his foot only. “Didnt even get into the ankle cavity,” he explained. “Tore all the flesh off, cut across the tendons, the four tendons across the top. Tore everything up, so it was pretty — you know, pretty — Im lucky to have a foot still.” The surgery took two doctors five-and-a-half hours to reattach everything except one tendon. Schulz, a surfer for eight years, said hes heard about shark attacks, but never imagined one coming after him. He said, “Sharks are always there, year-round, you see them jumping in the distance and stuff, but its never — you never think it would be you. Its such a rare — I mean, youre more likely to get struck by lightning, so its very rare. But you never think its going to be you.” Schulz explained he was surfing about 100 yards out when he caught a wave in to shore. Thats when he felt it: “All I really felt was teeth,” he said. “I dont remember everything exactly to the point, but — a lot of teeth.” He said he knew it was a shark. “I pretty much knew the way it grabbed my foot,” he said. “It was kind of violent. Didnt feel good.” After the shark let go, Schulz hauled himself onto his board, stunned. He said, “I told the others — there was another surfer there away from me and I yelled to him, I said, Man, I just got attacked by a shark, can you help me out here? He said, paddle in. I caught a wave in. He got the lifeguard. I crawled up on the beach, I waved at my girlfriend. She was laying there. I was like, Come on, I just got bit.” Jacksonville lifeguards ushered Schulz to an ambulance. As for the shark, Schulz said no one else saw it after his bite. Schulz said, “It went through my mind when I was paddling in, Is this thing following me? But, no, never saw it after that. You know, Im lucky. The surgeons did a great job. You know, when I first saw it after the surgery, it looks like a foot, still looks like a foot and it didnt look like a foot before.” The shark was so elusive, Schulz never even saw it — he only felt it. Schulz told “Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill, “Never saw it. It was completely by surprise. You know, when you think shark, you think, you know, farther out than everybody else, but it was actually more in towards the shore. Thats why it really caught me off guard.” Will he surf again? “Yeah, I think I will,” Schulz said. “Its a scary thing, but the chance — if I get bitten twice, then — ” “Then you should look out for the lightning,” Hill joked. Schulz said, “Thats the sign I need to get out of the water.”

via Shark Attack Victim: “All I Felt Was Teeth” – The Early Show – CBS News.

STUART, Fla. – A Stuart man is recovering after being bitten by a shark in Jacksonville.

“The shark grabbed me and shook his head a little bit, and I think he kind of realized that he was biting the wrong thing, so he let go,” said Clayton Shulz.

The 20-year-old needed 400 stitches to repair the injury to his foot.

Shulz is a baseball player at the University of North Florida. He still has several more surgeries and months of rehab ahead of him.

via Stuart man survives shark attack in Jacksonville.

NAPLES — Beside Alligator Alley in Golden Gate, there is a canal that locals have named “the Crystal.”

Tracy Cusick, 39, and Chris Kight, 49, parked their van and set their white plastic chairs underneath a shade tree beside the Crystal, their favorite swimming hole, to enjoy some “tranquility.”

Cars repeatedly swoosh by on the interstate, but the trees act as a buffer between the couple and civilization.

“Normally when they drive past they, blow their horn at us,” Kight said.

In some places of the canal, the clear water makes it easy to see the bottom. Fish dash by and the surface of the water sometimes ripples as they go. In other parts, which Kight thinks can be as deep as 40 feet, the water is mysterious and dark.

Cusick and Kight have visited the Crystal to swim, fish and meet with friends for about 20 years, but they are worried they may have to fight to keep the swimming hole open after a gruesome alligator attack on Sunday left a young man without a hand.

Tim Delano, 18, was attacked by a 10-foot alligator while swimming in the canal with friends Sunday evening. The gator clamped its mouth around Delano’s left hand and then severed it when the teen got away.

Friends drove Delano a couple of miles to get help. Delano was airlifted to Lee Memorial Hospital, where he is recovering. A tracker, sent by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, later trapped and killed the gator.

Delano wants people to stop swimming at the Crystal. “I hope they shut it down, so no accidents like this will happen again,” he said.

Kight said what happened to Delano was a first.

“It was a freak accident,” Kight said.

Although Cusick and Kight were the only mid-afternoon swimmers at the Crystal Monday, Kight said there were about 75 people there Sunday.

People were listening to music, barbecuing and swimming in the canal, according to the couple.

“It’s just a hangout,” Kight said.

Parents bring their children to swim and fish.

“The kids are never unattended,” Cusick said.

The day of the accident, Kight and Cusick left before it got dark, around 7 p.m., because they won’t swim in the Crystal past sunset.

“A gator feeds at night like a shark does,” Kight said.

Unlike Delano, they have seen gators in the waters before. “Any canal you go in there’s a chance,” Kight said.

Kight learned what happened to Delano from a television news report later that night. He knew it was the Crystal right away.

“I recognized a tree,” Kight said.

There’s still a dried pool of blood where Delano stood after he got out of the water. Kight pointed it out on the dirt road. He said they are glad Delano survived, but they’re worried their favorite swimming hole won’t.

“It would really bother me if they shut it down. There aren’t places to swim,” Cusick said.

She thinks it might be a good idea to post signs warning people about the potential dangers or to let them know what to do to stay safe.

“Everyone knows anyway, but to refresh their memories,” Cusick said.

But if there is a push to ban people from swimming in the Crystal, Kight said he’d start a petition to fight it.

“There will be a lot of people to sign it,” he said. “It’s the last swimming hole we have in Naples.”

via PHOTOS: Alligator attack doesn’t deter locals from swimming in the Crystal » Naples Daily News.

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES — An 18-year-old Golden Gate Estates man, who lost his hand after an alligator attack in the Estates on Sunday night, may be getting back what he lost.

Timothy J. Delano, 18, was swimming in a drainage canal called “The Chrystal” near the intersection of Everglades Boulevard and 42nd Avenue when a 10-foot alligator bit his left hand off, said FWC spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro.

Delano and two companions fled the canal and went to a gas station at Wilson and Golden Gate boulevards to call 911 at approximately 9:30 p.m., said Collier Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Cherie Wilson-Watson.

Delano was airlifted to the Lee Memorial Hospital trauma center in Fort Myers by Collier EMS, officials said.

Ferraro said a trapper was able to find the attacking alligator last night. The gator was “harvested” and the victim’s hand was found in its stomach.

Attempts could be made to reattach the Delano’s hand, Ferraro said.

“Our goal is always to make a person whole again,” she said.

Delano is in good condition, reported Lee Memorial spokeswoman Pat Dolce.

Ferraro said people should recognize that any fresh water body in Florida could have alligators. She said those animals are most active at dawn and dusk.

via Alligator bites 18-year-old’s hand off; gator caught and hand recovered » Naples Daily News.

Standing next to his young daughter in waist-deep water off Fripp Island on Friday afternoon, Craig Morris felt something softly nudge his leg.

Seconds later, something pulled 6-year-old Ella under the water.

That “something” was a shark, he said.

The 37-year-old father of three quickly pulled the child to the surface.

That’s when he saw the blood and the 9-inch gash on the little girl’s leg, said Heidi Morris, Craig’s wife and Ella’s mother.

“He threw the boogie board they had been using (away) and squeezed her leg together,” said Heidi Morris of the 1 p.m. incident near the Fripp Island Beach Club. “Then he carried her up the beach and booked it to the fire house. There was lots of blood. You could see her bone.”

A Beaufort County paramedic and Fripp Island Fire officers treated Ella until an ambulance arrived and took her to Beaufort Memorial Hospital.

It took 22 stitches to close the bite. Ella was released later that day, Heidi Morrris said.

The family, including sons Jackson, 8, and Parker, 9, of Marietta, Ga., were enjoying the final day of a week-long vacation when the incident occurred, she said. It was their first time vacationing on Fripp.

“We just loved it,” she said. “Earlier in the day, I had even posted pictures and a comment on my Facebook page that we were so happy with our experience. Later that day, I had to tell people about the shark.”

A RARE OCCURRENCE

Emergency room doctors told the family the shark was probably small, between four and five feet long, Heidi Morris said.

Mel Bell, director of the Office of Fisheries Management for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, agreed.

Ella’s wound looked like four smaller bites in a row, probably from a small shark. Typically, a swimmer would see the dorsal fin of a larger animal before it struck, Bell said.

“What you have with sharks is a test bite, to see what it is,” he said. “Then they usually take off, because you’re not a desired food item.”

DNR Sgt. Michael Paul Thomas said Tuesday there is no way to confirm whether the youngster’s wound was inflicted by a shark.

Because shark attacks are so rare, there is no protocol for reporting bites.

In South Carolina, the most recent shark attack that resulted in death was in 1883, Bell said.

“We’re still not sure what kind of shark it was,” he said.

In July 2006, an Ohio man said he was bitten by a shark at Hilton Head Island’s Singleton Beach. The wound required about a dozen stitches on his leg above his ankle. Authorities never confirmed the attack as the work of a shark, but the man said the teeth marks and puncture wounds were evidence enough for him.

In June of that year, a Missouri girl was bitten while playing in about two feet of water near the Breakers resort area of Coligny Beach.

Earlier in the month, a 14-year-old girl was bitten while swimming off Pawleys Island while a 21-year-old woman suffered a foot injury during a shark encounter off Kiawah Island.

Still, shark bites are relatively rare occurrences.

According to statistics compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File, people are 30 times more likely to be struck by lightning.

Thomas said tracking the area shark population is not an exact science, but called the number robust.

“We always have a fairly large number of sharks in our waters,” Thomas said.

He attributed that to deep waters, healthy estuaries and plenty of fish to eat.

“Port Royal and St. Helena sounds are two deep areas for them to come into and spawn, and we have an abundance of fish,” Thomas said.

‘I’M NOT SCARED’

While the incident left her parents shaken, Ella was the picture of courage and composure.

Her mother was amazed at the child’s attitude in the emergency room.

“She was fine, acted like there was absolutely nothing wrong,” Heidi Morris said.

Since the encounter, the six-year-old has continued to be upbeat and chatty, her mother said.

“Yesterday (Monday) all day, she wore a shark T-shirt,” she said.

Her parents said they were happy there was no severe nerve or muscle damage. A doctor said Monday the youngster’s wound was healing well and she should be up and walking in a day or two, her mother said.

Minutes before the attack, Ella had been in the water alone, her mother said.

“We were lucky, because her dad came up and put his arms around her right before it happened,” she said. “I think she felt safe because her daddy was right there.”

“I’m not scared,” Ella told her mother after the attack.

She said something else, too.

“I’ll go back in the water.”

via Ga. girl ‘upbeat’ after being bitten by shark off Fripp Island | islandpacket.com.

Standing next to his young daughter in waist-deep water off Fripp Island on Friday afternoon, Craig Morris felt something softly nudge his leg.

Seconds later, something pulled 6-year-old Ella under the water.

That “something” was a shark, he said.

The 37-year-old father of three quickly pulled the child to the surface.

That’s when he saw the blood and the 9-inch gash on the little girl’s leg, said Heidi Morris, Craig’s wife and Ella’s mother.

“He threw the boogie board they had been using (away) and squeezed her leg together,” said Heidi Morris of the 1 p.m. incident near the Fripp Island Beach Club. “Then he carried her up the beach and booked it to the fire house. There was lots of blood. You could see her bone.”

A Beaufort County paramedic and Fripp Island Fire officers treated Ella until an ambulance arrived and took her to Beaufort Memorial Hospital.

It took 22 stitches to close the bite. Ella was released later that day, Heidi Morrris said.

The family, including sons Jackson, 8, and Parker, 9, of Marietta, Ga., were enjoying the final day of a week-long vacation when the incident occurred, she said. It was their first time vacationing on Fripp.

“We just loved it,” she said. “Earlier in the day, I had even posted pictures and a comment on my Facebook page that we were so happy with our experience. Later that day, I had to tell people about the shark.”

A RARE OCCURRENCE

Emergency room doctors told the family the shark was probably small, between four and five feet long, Heidi Morris said.

Mel Bell, director of the Office of Fisheries Management for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, agreed.

Ella’s wound looked like four smaller bites in a row, probably from a small shark. Typically, a swimmer would see the dorsal fin of a larger animal before it struck, Bell said.

“What you have with sharks is a test bite, to see what it is,” he said. “Then they usually take off, because you’re not a desired food item.”

DNR Sgt. Michael Paul Thomas said Tuesday there is no way to confirm whether the youngster’s wound was inflicted by a shark.

Because shark attacks are so rare, there is no protocol for reporting bites.

In South Carolina, the most recent shark attack that resulted in death was in 1883, Bell said.

“We’re still not sure what kind of shark it was,” he said.

In July 2006, an Ohio man said he was bitten by a shark at Hilton Head Island’s Singleton Beach. The wound required about a dozen stitches on his leg above his ankle. Authorities never confirmed the attack as the work of a shark, but the man said the teeth marks and puncture wounds were evidence enough for him.

In June of that year, a Missouri girl was bitten while playing in about two feet of water near the Breakers resort area of Coligny Beach.

Earlier in the month, a 14-year-old girl was bitten while swimming off Pawleys Island while a 21-year-old woman suffered a foot injury during a shark encounter off Kiawah Island.

Still, shark bites are relatively rare occurrences.

According to statistics compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File, people are 30 times more likely to be struck by lightning.

Thomas said tracking the area shark population is not an exact science, but called the number robust.

“We always have a fairly large number of sharks in our waters,” Thomas said.

He attributed that to deep waters, healthy estuaries and plenty of fish to eat.

“Port Royal and St. Helena sounds are two deep areas for them to come into and spawn, and we have an abundance of fish,” Thomas said.

‘I’M NOT SCARED’

While the incident left her parents shaken, Ella was the picture of courage and composure.

Her mother was amazed at the child’s attitude in the emergency room.

“She was fine, acted like there was absolutely nothing wrong,” Heidi Morris said.

Since the encounter, the six-year-old has continued to be upbeat and chatty, her mother said.

“Yesterday (Monday) all day, she wore a shark T-shirt,” she said.

Her parents said they were happy there was no severe nerve or muscle damage. A doctor said Monday the youngster’s wound was healing well and she should be up and walking in a day or two, her mother said.

Minutes before the attack, Ella had been in the water alone, her mother said.

“We were lucky, because her dad came up and put his arms around her right before it happened,” she said. “I think she felt safe because her daddy was right there.”

“I’m not scared,” Ella told her mother after the attack.

She said something else, too.

“I’ll go back in the water.”

via Ga. girl ‘upbeat’ after being bitten by shark off Fripp Island | islandpacket.com.

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) — A teen is recovering in the hospital after a spider bite became infected.

Las week, Dillion Poulos was helping remodel his uncle's kitchen. “We were putting up new panels and stuff and that's when I felt a sting,” Poulos said.

The teen has been at the hospital since last Friday because of the severity of his wound, a big open sore where his flesh have been eaten by the poison. “I felt a sting on my leg and I pulled my pant leg up and it was just a little red mark,” said Poulos.

That little red mark turned into a gaping hole. “It was painful,” he said.

Doctors at Baptist Hospital determined that the sting was the bite of a poisonous spider, the dangerous Brown Recluse. “What happens is that it almost starts eating away at the tissue,” said Dr. Doris Aguilar.

It took the teen two days to realize something was terribly wrong. “I squeezed it and a little bit of puss came out. When I woke up it was all sore and blistered and nasty,” he recalled.

This spider is uncommon in Florida, but doctors believe his family has had unusual run-ins with the rare Recluse before.

“Apparently the mother has been bitten several times and she actually witnessed a brown hairy spider. You can't hardly tell right now, it's just a little bump,” Aguilar said.

As if the spider bite wasn't bad enough, the MRSA Virus also got into the wound, which made treating Poulos that much more difficult. “When they first told me I was like, 'Oh my God. I could be dead,' but thank God I'm still here.”

Doctors said if you get a spider bite, you shouldn't panic. Just don't scratch or pick at it, because that's usually how they get infected. If you notice that it is spreading go see your doctor.

As far as Poulos there is no anti-venom for a Brown Relcuse bite, all they can do is wash it out and give antibiotics, but after being here for a week he will be released on Friday.

via WSVN-TV – Teen recovering from spider bite.

VAIL — Justin Young was hoping he'd see a bear while working in the Vail Valley this summer, but he never wanted to see one as close as he did last Friday.

Young, 25, was working for his father's construction business at a home in the 1500 block of Spring Hill Lane in East Vail when he took a break and took a stroll behind the home around 9 a.m. The next thing he knew he was about 20 feet from a black bear that he said weighed about 400 pounds.

“I spooked him,” Young said. “He immediately charged at me.”

Young, who lives in Florida full-time, said he feels incredibly fortunate to have survived the encounter. The bear hit him on the side of his head and again on the left side of his body before Young fell down. The bear knocked him out, he said, and when he regained consciousness the bear was gone. He got up and ran back to the house and told his coworkers what happened.

Young doubts his coworkers would have believed him if it wasn't for the bear hair.

“They assumed I fell down the stairs and was full of it, until they saw I was covered in bear hair,” Young said.

He walked away with some cuts and bruises, and a nasty black eye, but that was it.

His parents, Chuck and Terry Young, of Eagle, saw pictures of their son's cuts and bruises from his cell phone camera that morning. Terry Young said she got a picture message that said her son had quite the story to tell her.

“Now he has a whole new respect for bears,” Terry Young said.

Justin Young said he's pretty sure he scared the bear because it was facing away from him as he approached it. The bear reacted and went on the defensive, he said.

“I'm very fortunate the bear was on the defensive and not the offensive,” Justin Young said.

After the bear hit him once near his left eye and temple, he put up his arm to protect himself. The bear got a pretty good scratch at his left arm, and that's when Justin Young thinks he was knocked out.

He said he thinks his lifeless body as he laid there unconscious was what saved him. If he continued to fight back and try to protect himself, he said the bear may have done even more damage.

“It's probably good he knocked me out,” Justin Young said. “I'm glad I wasn't conscious for it.”

Justin Young said he has a lot of bruises and scratches on his body, too, which makes him think the bear continued to smack him around a bit while he was unconscious. He said the Division of Wildlife officer who responded to the scene told him a bear that size could exert 1,000 pounds of force.

The Vail Police Department responded to the call along with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Justin Young said he refused an ambulance ride to the hospital because he felt fine and doesn't have health insurance.

“Now that it's done and over with, and I know that I'm not going to die from it, it's kind of a cool story,” Justin Young said.

Randy Hampton, spokesman for the Division of Wildlife, said the agency tracked the bear for more than 12 hours Friday and could see the bear a few times but couldn't catch him. They tracked him with hound dogs but lost the scent when the bear's trail led across asphalt, a surface much harder for dogs to smell.

“Any situation in Colorado where we deal with an aggressive animal injuring a person, the policy is typically that the animal is going to be put down,” Hampton said.

Hampton said that while it's not exactly common to hear of a bear attacking or charging at a person, it does happen several times a year in Colorado. There were three incidents last year in the Aspen-area alone where people were physically injured by bears, he said.

“That being said, it's more common to get attacked by your neighbor's dog than a bear,” Hampton said.

Hampton said he didn't have information on the size or sex of the bear that attacked Justin Young. He said 400 pounds sounds pretty large, though, for a black bear this time of year.

“What we find is that most often, because of their hair and how much hair they have it makes them appear much larger,” Hampton said. “Guessing the weight of a bear is extremely difficult.”

via Bear attacks man in East Vail | VailDaily.com.

LAKELAND, Fla. – Tiger is taking it easy, spending the day in bed lying down. His owner Vivian Rovelo says this pit bull doesn't even have the energy to go outside.

“He didn't eat yesterday,” she said.

Vivian says normally the dog is very active.

“Yes. Running, playing, you can't imagine. He's a very excited dog.”

Tiger needs his rest a day after surviving an alligator attack at Lake Hunter just south of downtown Lakeland.

The dog was going for a walk around the lake, as he often does with Vivan's husband Oscar. With soaring temperatures, Tiger needed a water break.

“He was going to the lake, because it was hot. And the alligator attacked. The alligator wanted to take him,” said Rovelo.

Tiger fought back and got out of the alligator's grip. Then Vivian's husband pulled him to safety with the leash.

“He said, oh! Tiger, Tiger! And he pulled him out and the alligator was gone,” she said.

There are plenty battle scars, scrapes and scratches all over Tiger's body. But it appears he may have hurt the gator too. One of Tiger's teeth is cut in half.

And while there are alligator warning signs around the lake, Vivian says more are needed. “Let me tell you, you have to be careful in the lakes, everybody. Everybody walks over there, with dogs, with kids.”

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials do advise pets to swim, exercise, or drink near places alligators call home.

Vivan hopes Tiger is up and around and back to his old self soon. In the meantime, she's giving him love, and the run of a big comfy bed.

via Pit bull recovering from gator attack.

The now-world-famous Guatemala City sinkhole, which opened following a recent tropical storm, is estimated to be 66 feet wide, 100 feet deep, and perfectly cylindrical in shape. It must be seen to be believed. Here are five amazing facts about the sinkhole and, as a bonus at the bottom, three not-so-amazing “facts.”

Might Still Get Bigger Politics Daily's Carl Franzen warns the sinkhole may be “increasing in size and appetite.” He writes, “The phenomenon of rapidly growing sinkholes is well documented, but the Guatemala case stands out precisely because the sinkhole is so enormous and in such an inconvenient location, at a major intersection. The sinkhole's potential growth is also problematic for repair efforts, as no work can be begun safely until the sinkhole has reached an equilibrium and stops…well, sinking, which could take up to several more days.”

Could Be Caused by Sped-Up Geological Erosion Geologists David Bercovici and Mark Brandon tell Vanity Fair, “Sinkholes often appear in areas where the rock below the ground is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can be naturally dissolved by circulating ground water. As the sediment dissolves, caves and air pockets develop underneath the land surface. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces, then the ground collapses and results in a sinkhole. Natural depressions that collect water and man-made structures such as houses and streets with poor drainage are especially vulnerable to sinkholes. Heavy rainfall, like that from Tropical Storm Agatha, only accelerates the process.”

Sewer System May Be to Blame The Christian Science Monitor's Sara Miller Llana reports, “The mayor Guatemala City, Álvaro Arzú, said there may be a relationship between the sinkhole and the city's 36-year old drainage system that runs 50-60 meters below the surface. He said, according to 21st Century, a Guatemala daily newspaper, that the country's disaster response agency, CONRED, is using an X-ray like machine to study the earth in the area of the sinkhole.” Other reports cite “sewer or municipal water lines [that] might have eroded the ground and led to the collapse.”

This Has Happened Before The Christian Science Monitor's Ezra Fieser recounts, “In 2007, three people were killed when a 100-foot deep sinkhole opened in another Guatemala City neighborhood. More than 1,000 people were evacuated from the area.” Carl Franzen adds, “Just last month, a sinkhole opened in Quebec swallowing an entire house and killing the family inside. In the U.S., they are most common in the southern states, particularly Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida, where hundreds of smaller sinkholes have already been reported this year alone.”

How We Can Fix It Politics Daily's Carl Franzen explains three options. (1) Excavate and Filter; (2) Remediate and Cap Grout; (3) Underpin. That last one comes from “Sinkhole attorneys Marshall Thomas Burnett, a firm specializing in filing claims for those whose properties are affected by the appearance of sinkholes.” Click through for descriptions of each process.

3 Not-So-Amazing Sinkhole 'Facts'

You Can Throw Stuff in It Death and Taxes blogger Matt Kiebus helpfully contributes “fun stuff to toss in” the sinkhole. His 12-item list includes such throwables as Miller Lite bottles and BP CEO Tony Hayward.

Sinkhole Has Biblical Precedent BeliefNet's Mark Herringshaw quotes Psalm 46:2: “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” To be fair, Herringshaw also urges prayer for the victims of the sinkhole as well as the tropical storm that caused it.

The Best Car to Jump a Sinkhole Car blog Jalopnik's Matt Hardigree asks, “Assuming you were airlifted in to the country with a vehicle of your choice — what would you take and what would your strategy be for avoiding death?” His answer: “Personally, I'd pick a Caterham R500 to traverse the dangerous streets of Guatemala City. The insane 2.0-liter Ford-powered roadster has classic Caterham agility to avoid sinkholes, 520 hp-per-ton power to speed away from an earth opening beneath your feet, a low 1,115-lb weight to help leap over any obstacles, and an open roof in case you can't do any of those things and need to bail in a hurry.”

via 5 Amazing Facts About the Guatemala City Sinkhole | The Atlantic Wire.

Fatal shark attacks are rare anywhere in the world, with an average of about five recorded each year globally, but in New England, it's virtually unheard of.

Sightings near local beaches, however, have become an annual occurrence.

A sighting Saturday, which was captured by a Coast Guard camera off York Beach, Maine, appears to be a pair of juvenile basking sharks about 12 feet long, said Dr. John Mandelman, a research biologist at the New England Aquarium.

Though basking sharks are considered harmless to humans, with no positive species identification to work with over the weekend, lifeguards at Hampton Beach patrolled the waters for anything unusual.

“Any large animal, depending on what constitutes a threat, is potentially hazardous in their natural environment due to their sheer size,” Mandelman said. “But a basking shark would never attack a human. They are called basking sharks because the theory is they bask in the sun. They are passive filter feeders.”

Basking sharks are 5 to 7 feet long when born and, in rare instances, grow to as big as 40 feet. While it's early for a sighting so far north, young basking sharks are known to wander close to shore, Mandelman said.

Another sighting a mile off Cape Neddick in southern Maine on Thursday is said to have been a 10-foot porbeagle shark.

Though the sharks are likely chasing a meal and pose little to no threat to humans, these latest shark sightings serve as a reminder that many sharks do swim in local ocean waters.

“There are 15 species of sharks that exist in New England waters that wouldn't be unusual to see in a given instance,” Mandelman said. “There are tons of sharks in New England waters that get close to shore across a myriad of species, especially in the summer months.”

In 2005, ABC news correspondent Jay Schadler, who has his art studio in Amesbury, was swimming off Plum Island when he reported seeing a shark. It, too, turned out to be a basking shark.

There are other species lurking in the deep off New England, however, including makos, tiger sharks and even great whites.

Last year, scientists were shocked by the sighting of several great white sharks off Monomoy Island near Chatham over Labor Day weekend, five of which were tagged for future study. The sharks passed within 75 yards of Hollywood Beach, prompting officials to close the beach to swimmers.

A group of fishermen looking for tuna off Dartmouth last August hooked a 624-pound mako.

And while local shark attacks aren't common, they are not unprecedented.

Joseph Troy, 16, of Dorchester, was swimming with a friend of his uncle in about 10 feet of water, an estimated 150 yards off Mattapoisett in Buzzards Bay in July 1936, when a white shark grabbed his leg and pulled him down. He was rescued and brought to shore but died in surgery.

His was the last fatal shark attack recorded in New England.

Most documented shark attacks in the U.S. take place in Hawaii or Florida, where a 38-year-old kite surfer lost his life in a shark attack in February.

Local dorsal fin sightings are much more likely to be the aforementioned basking sharks or ocean sunfish, another surface sunbather with a large fin that can be mistaken as a shark.

For swimmers, however, common sense still prevails, Mandelman said.

“Swim in pairs, don't swim at dawn or dusk, and don't swim where marine mammals are present,” he said, noting seals can sometimes attract the wrong kind of attention. “The marine mammals tend to be pretty hazardous themselves.”

via Sharks spotted off New England shores » Local News » NewburyportNews.com, Newburyport, MA.

CHAFFEE COUNTY – Cindy Peratt heard the thunder and saw some flashes of lightning on Saturday afternoon, but she wasn't prepared for what that lightning would cause.

“There was this sudden blue light,” Peratt said, “and then I heard the loudest sound I've every heard in my life.”

When she looked outside the window of her store, The Roc Doc on Highway 285 near mile marker 138, she saw a motorcycle skidding. The driver of that motorcycle had been struck by lightning.

Peratt's husband Dirk ran to the man, who was described as being in a “fetal position,” while she called 9-1-1.

Chaffee County Sheriff Tim Walker confirmed to 9NEWS that 53-year-old William John Carr of Pompano Beach, Florida was struck while traveling with a group of fellow motorcyclists at 4:13 p.m. on Saturday. He was taken to Heart of the Rockies Hospital and then flown to St. Anthony's Central where, according to a spokesperson, he remained in critical condition as of Monday afternoon.

Cindy Peratt said Carr received a significant head injury.

“There was a hole in the top of his head,” she said, adding that the hair on his head and on one side of his body had also been singed.

She thinks that force of the strike was strong enough to destroy any protection that Carr may have had.

“We were wondering 'Why didn't he have a helmet,'” she said. “But then we looked in the road and saw his helmet shattered.”

Sheriff Walker confirms that the lightning did strike at the top of Carr's helmet.

Carr is a firefighter, according to his traveling companions who are also firefighters.

Witnesses like Dirk Peratt  are amazed that Carr survived the strike.

“Wow. That's wonderful but hard to believe,” he said. “I pray he makes it with no major brain issues.”

via 9NEWS.com | Denver | Colorado’s Online News Leader | Motorcyclist struck by lightning, in critical condition.

(CBS)  Hannah Foster was enjoying a day of boogie-boarding about 30-40 yards off Florida's Jacksonville Beach last week when she suddenly had a terrifying encounter with a shark.

It bit down on her lower left leg, and foot.

With the help of her boyfriend, Rick Hughes, also 18, Foster made it to shore.

It was the first shark attack in the area in 20 years.

Foster needed 29 stitches but told “Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill she's “doing fine,” and that doctors say she didn't sustain any permanent damage.

Foster says she knew right away what was going on. “I didn't even consider anything else could have hurt that bad.” Foster told Hill. “I could kind of feel all the teeth inside my skin, so I knew.”

And, she was “nothing short of freaking out. I was so scared. I thought it was gonna smell the blood from where it had already bit me and come back. So, I'm just seaming at my boyfriend, yelling, 'It's coming back, it's coming back. I've been bit.' He didn't even know it was a shark. I couldn't even get that out.”

Hughes says he “just heard her screaming and it just scared me to death. But I turned around and just grabbed her as fast as I could and tried to just get her to shore.”

Was he concerned about another attack?

“I had no idea that it was a shark until we got closer to shore,” Hughes responded, “but I didn't really think about it. I just wanted to get her out. … It was just crazy. I don't even know how else to explain it.”

Foster says the water was so murky, “You could barely see at all. I could see the shape of (the shark) but I couldn't tell what kind of shark or anything.”

Once on shore, Foster says, “It was about 30 minutes before I got to the E-R and got any medicine in me. They spent time just bandaging it and making sure that I didn't hit an artery or anything. So, I spent a lot of time on the beach and in the ambulance.”

This wasn't Fosters first run of bad aquatic luck. When she was 9, she was bitten by a Portuguese man-of-war, which left scars on one of her arms for three years.

So now, says Foster, “I don't want to get back in at all. I know the odds, you know, are in my favor that I probably won't get bit again, but I obviously have pretty bad luck, so I'm sticking to pools.”

via Teen Survives Grisly Shark Attack Off Florida – The Early Show – CBS News.

This is an old story, but an interesting one.

MIAMI — Florida had seen just 17 confirmed fatal alligator attacks in the previous 58 years. In less a week, there appears to have been three.

The bodies of two women were found Sunday some 130 miles apart.

Annemarie Campbell, 23, of Paris, Tenn., was attacked while snorkeling in a secluded recreation area near Lake George, said state wildlife spokeswoman Kat Kelley. The lake is about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.

“The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth,” said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore.

By poking the alligator's eyes and trying to open its jaws, the men were able to free Campbell's body, but she was dead when they found her, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury.

“You just don't think of your daughter dying from an alligator,” Campbell's mother, Dawn Marie Yankeelov, told the newspaper.

Authorities estimate the animal was 7 to 9 feet long.

In Pinellas County, the body of another woman apparently killed by an alligator was found in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg, authorities said.

Judy W. Cooper's body had been in the water for about three days, authorities said.

The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which “did play some part in the victim's death,” according to a preliminary autopsy. The cause of death was pending and the medical examiner's final report will not be released for at least four weeks, the sheriff's office said.

“We don't know the condition she was in when this happened,” state wildlife spokesman Gary Morse said.

It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said alligators are frequently spotted.

Cooper's family had not heard from her for about three months and she had a history of drug abuse, her sister, Dannette Goodrich, told The Orlando Sentinel.

Gary Goodrich, Cooper's brother-in-law, told the newspaper that officials said her purse was found near the water and drugs may have played a factor.

Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both gators Sunday.

On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.

On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch alligator in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.

Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal alligator attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the alligator attacked.

What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.

“As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more,” Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. “They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased alligator attacks.”

Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when gators are more active, Morse said.

via Florida Marks Third Deadly Alligator Attack 5/15/06 | abc7.com.

Eighteen-year old Hannah Mayo was on her boogie board just off the coast of a Jacksonville beach when a shark floated up beside her and chomped down on both her leg and foot, reported the Gwinett Daily Post.

Her boyfriend, Rick Hughes, immediately ran to her aid and pulled her to shore, calling for lifeguards. The bite measured 12 inches in radius and required 29 stitches in all.

According to the news source, Mayo's mother, Kitty Mayo-Foster, said that hospital staff told her that Mayo was lucky to not have lost her foot, because of the way it was positioned on the boogie board.

Only several hours later, Mayo was already laughing about surviving the shark attack and telling people that she was “done with the ocean,” due to this encounter and another unpleasant experience with a Portuguese man-of-war when she was nine.

University of Florida findings claim that 100 people have been subject to a shark attack in the U.S from 1916 to 2008, with 12 of the attacks resulting in death. Experts from the university advise swimmers to avoid night swimming, swimming away from the shore, or swimming alone to reduce the risk of an attack.

Someone who is bleeding shouldn't swim in shark-populated areas at all and the university researchers say that jewelry or too much splashing can also attract predators.

via Hannah Mayo survives shark attack while boogie-boarding | News and Articles | TheSurvivorsClub.org.

TAMPA — A 7-foot alligator was caught in the parking lot of a Gulf coast middle school.

Authorities say the alligator turned up in front of Stewart Middle School's cafeteria early Monday.

Hillsborough County school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said the alligator was found before students arrived and they were kept away. No one was hurt.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer caught the alligator in a back parking lot. It has been turned over to trapper to be euthanized.

via 7-foot gator caught outside Florida middle school.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — A teenager was injured in what authorities say may be a possible shark attack.

Authorities said Friday that 18-year-old Hannah Grace Foster of Snellville, Ga., was boogie boarding off Jacksonville Beach on Thursday when she felt a pain and pressure on her left foot. She said she saw a dark shadow swimming away.

Authorities say she sustained a 12-inch bite. Her boyfriend carried her in to shore and she was taken to a hospital for treatment and later released.

via Officials: Teen injured in possible shark attack – Florida AP – MiamiHerald.com.

It seems that as the mating season of the Alligators is nearing, the reptiles are busy finding a mate.

On Monday a 7-feet long alligator was found in a middle School in the coastal city of Tampa. The alligator was found roaming in the premise of the school building and reports claim that the authorities informed the Tampa police department at around 7 p.m.

The students of the school who had started arriving by then were kept away from the alligators. Before the police arrived to take hold of the situation and trap the alligator, the staff members of the school were able to coax the alligator and trap him inside the boy’s bathroom. The Police arrived with trappers from the Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Service to capture the alligator.

Marc Pellicano, a sixth-grade science teacher of the school has revealed to media sources that he noticed the giant alligator just after getting out of his car in the parking area of the school on Monday morning.

He said that he immediately got to action to see to it that the alligator did not attack anybody or nobody got close enough to the alligator. The alligator then according to another teacher entered the school building and stopped in front of the cafeteria.

From there on it was coaxed by the staff members into the toilet and locked from outside until the trappers and the police arrived.

David Rocco, one of the school teachers said that the alligator was not aggressive and that the only time it got a bit aggressive was when the noose was put around it.

Gary Morse of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Service speculated that the alligator might have entered the school on Friday before the gates were shut.

via 7-Feet Long Gator Found In A Tampa Middle School.

This is a story from 2005.

DESTIN, FL – A 14-year-old Louisiana girl was killed Saturday in a shark attack in Destin near a Walton County campground on the Gulf of Mexico. The girl's identity was not released. But Walton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Shank says the girl was from Gonzales, Louisiana.

Shank says two 14-year-old girls were swimming about 100 yards offshore when they noticed a dark shadow in the water. Shank says, “One of the swimmers was bitten. It was lower portions of her body.” Both girls swam to the shore where the girl that was attacked was treated. Shank says the girl was transported to the Sacred Heart Hospital in South Walton where she was pronounced dead.

About 21 miles of area beaches were closed to swimmers immediately afterward. They will be closed for the rest of the day.The attack happened near Camping on the Gulf Holiday Travel Park in Walton County. Patrick O'Neill, the campground's general manager, refused to comment. Mike McKee, front desk supervisor at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort and Spa, said this is the time of year when area hotels are booked to capacity.

Florida had the largest number of documented shark attacks worldwide in 2003 with 31.

via Destin Shark Attack Kills 14-Year-Old Girl.

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Gobierno de Guatemala/FlickrThe now-world-famous Guatemala City sinkhole, which opened following a recent tropical storm, is estimated to be 66 feet wide, 100 feet deep, and perfectly cylindrical in shape. It must be seen to be believed. Here are five amazing facts about the sinkhole and, as a bonus at the bottom, three not-so-amazing “facts.”

• Might Still Get Bigger Politics Daily’s Carl Franzen warnsthe sinkhole may be “increasing in size and appetite.” He writes, “The phenomenon of rapidly growing sinkholes is well documented, but the Guatemala case stands out precisely because the sinkhole is so enormous and in such an inconvenient location, at a major intersection. The sinkhole’s potential growth is also problematic for repair efforts, as no work can be begun safely until the sinkhole has reached an equilibrium and stops…well, sinking, which could take up to several more days.”

• Could Be Caused by Sped-Up Geological Erosion Geologists David Bercovici and Mark Brandon tell Vanity Fair, “Sinkholes often appear in areas where the rock below the ground is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can be naturally dissolved by circulating ground water. As the sediment dissolves, caves and air pockets develop underneath the land surface. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces, then the ground collapses and results in a sinkhole. Natural depressions that collect water and man-made structures such as houses and streets with poor drainage are especially vulnerable to sinkholes. Heavy rainfall, like that from Tropical Storm Agatha, only accelerates the process.”

• Sewer System May Be to Blame The Christian Science Monitor’s Sara Miller Llana reports, “The mayor Guatemala City, Álvaro Arzú, said there may be a relationship between the sinkhole and the city’s 36-year old drainage system that runs 50-60 meters below the surface. He said, according to 21st Century, a Guatemala daily newspaper, that the country’s disaster response agency, CONRED, is using an X-ray like machine to study the earth in the area of the sinkhole.” Other reports cite “sewer or municipal water lines [that] might have eroded the ground and led to the collapse.”

• This Has Happened Before The Christian Science Monitor’s Ezra Fieser recounts, “In 2007, three people were killed when a 100-foot deep sinkhole opened in another Guatemala City neighborhood. More than 1,000 people were evacuated from the area.” Carl Franzen adds, “Just last month, asinkhole opened in Quebec swallowing an entire house and killing the family inside. In the U.S., they are most common in the southern states, particularly Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida, where hundreds of smaller sinkholes have already been reported this year alone.”

• How We Can Fix It Politics Daily’s Carl Franzen explains three options. (1) Excavate and Filter; (2) Remediate and Cap Grout; (3) Underpin. That last one comes from “Sinkhole attorneys Marshall Thomas Burnett, a firm specializing in filing claims for those whose properties are affected by the appearance of sinkholes.” Click through for descriptions of each process.

3 Not-So-Amazing Sinkhole ‘Facts’

• You Can Throw Stuff in It Death and Taxes blogger Matt Kiebus helpfully contributes “fun stuff to toss in” the sinkhole. His 12-item list includes such throwables as Miller Lite bottles and BP CEO Tony Hayward.

• Sinkhole Has Biblical Precedent BeliefNet’s Mark Herringshaw quotes Psalm 46:2: “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” To be fair, Herringshaw also urges prayer for the victims of the sinkhole as well as the tropical storm that caused it.

• The Best Car to Jump a Sinkhole Car blog Jalopnik’s Matt Hardigree asks, “Assuming you were airlifted in to the country with a vehicle of your choice — what would you take and what would your strategy be for avoiding death?” His answer: “Personally, I’d pick a Caterham R500 to traverse the dangerous streets of Guatemala City. The insane 2.0-liter Ford-powered roadster has classic Caterham agility to avoid sinkholes, 520 hp-per-ton power to speed away from an earth opening beneath your feet, a low 1,115-lb weight to help leap over any obstacles, and an open roof in case you can’t do any of those things and need to bail in a hurry.”

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About this time each year, a fisherman catches a large, pregnant bull shark somewhere in the Tampa Bay area. The angler usually drags the shark ashore and poses, jaws agape, for the obligatory dead fish picture. Then the phone rings. “Is it still safe to swim?” a caller asks. “Of course not,” I respond. “But don’t drive either. You could get killed.” After a long, uncomfortable pause, I laugh and explain that a person is more likely to be killed doing home improvements than by a shark. But nobody ever made a movie about the inherent dangers of house painting. However, let a great white shark loose off a New England shoreline on a summer’s day and you’ve got blockbuster, a horror movie that will withstand the test of time.

Living dinosaurs

One hundred million years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, sharks dominated the ocean. Today, while highways and office buildings cover much of the planet’s land now, all that remains of those “terrible lizards” are bones and fossils.

But sharks, nature’s perfect predators, still swim supreme in the sea. Perched atop the food chain, they feed on the weak and the sick, which helps maintain nature’s balance.

Slow to grow and giving birth to only a few pups at a time, a shark’s only enemies are other sharks and humans. Sensitive to overfishing, many marine biologists fear that if too many sharks are caught and killed, entire species may disappear forever.

And thanks to the movie Jaws, sharks in general have a bad reputation that may hasten their demise.

Fact and fiction

Most people are scared of sharks. But the truth is, most sharks are just as scared of humans. Of the 350 species of sharks, only a few are known to be dangerous to humans.

Most shark attacks occur close to land. Marine biologists believe that in most cases, the shark has mistaken the swimmer or surfer for a common food source, such as a seal or large fish.

But sharks are wild animals, and all wild animals should be treated with caution and respect. Almost any large shark, 6 feet or longer, can be considered a potential threat to humans.

Three species – the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvieri) and the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) - are responsible for most attacks.

“People have this impression that if a shark sees you that it wants to attack,” said Brent Winner, a shark expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. “But that is a myth. If you look at the records, most attacks are bite and release.”

Most attacks in Florida involve surfers in Volusia and Brevard counties.

“Surfers are in the water longer than swimmers,” Winner said. “The longer you spend in the water the more likely you are to run into a shark.”

Four near our shores

Hammerhead

The great hammerhead, which can reach lengths of 20 feet and more than 1,200 pounds, is feared as a man-eater, but in reality, this odd-looking fish is more interested in eating stingrays. Hammerheads are often found with stingray barbs sticking out of their mouths. One unfortunate specimen had been stung 50 times.

Tiger

The tiger, along with the great white and bull, is one of the world’s most dangerous carnivores. Reaching lengths of 17 feet, the tiger is an opportunistic feeder. This shark gets its name from the dark stripes that cover its body early in life but disappear as it grows older. A favorite food is sea turtle, which the tigers crush with their thick, jagged teeth.

Black tip

One of the most common inshore species of sharks, the black tip is so named because of the easily recognizable black markings on the ends of its fins. A fish-eater that feeds close to piers and beaches, black tips often swim near bathers without incident.

Bull

Possibly the most dangerous shark, the bull can live for long periods in freshwater. It has been found in the upper Amazon, 2,300 miles from the open sea, and in land-locked bodies of water, such as Lake Nicaragua. Bulls like shallow water and have been implicated in number of unprovoked attacks, including several in the Tampa Bay area.

By the numbers

1 in 11.5 million

Odds of a shark attack on a human

0 in 264.1 million

Odds of a fatal shark attack on a human

231 Number of reported shark attacks between 1956 and 2008 in Volusia County, making it the shark attack capital of the world

Play it safe

Although your chances of being killed by a bull shark are less than your chances of being struck by lightning, you can take some steps to protect yourself. Here are a few tips, courtesy of the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville:

• Avoid swimming near the mouths of rivers or bays, areas favored by bull sharks.

• Do not swim near schools of baitfish. Bull sharks may be nearby.

• When spearfishing, be ready to drop your catch. Bull sharks are attracted by speared fish.

• Avoid swimming at night or early in the morning, when sharks are most active.

Worst-case scenario

A University of Florida study showed shark attacks on humans are more likely to occur:

• On a Sunday (more people go to the beach on that day of the week, of course)

• In water less than 6 feet deep (that’s typically the depth swimmers favor at the beach)

• Between dusk and dawn (feeding time)

• During a new moon (tides influence bait)

• To those wearing black-and-white bathing suits (researchers believe the contrast is a factor)

Source: The International Shark Attack File; odds are from Year 2000 USA Beach and Injuries Fatalities report

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Shark attacks are most likely to occur on Sunday, in less than 6 feet of water, during a new moon and involve surfers wearing black and white bathing suits, a first of its kind study from the University of Floridasuggests.

Researchers analyzed statistics from shark attacks that occurred in Florida’s Volusia County, dubbed the “Shark Attack Capital of the World,” between 1956 and 2008. They also spent a year observing people between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at UF.

“It’s basically an analysis of why, where and when in an area that traditionally has had more shark-human interactions than any other stretch of coastline in the world,” he said. “One of our students, Brittany Garner, essentially camped out there, counted the number of heads on the beach and took photographs.”

While this 47-mile-long section of Central Florida’s Atlantic coast leads in human-shark skirmishes, making up 21 percent of all global attacks between 1999 and 2008, most are “hit and run” incidents that seldom cause serious injury and no fatalities occurred, he said.

“Calling them attacks is probably a misnomer because the consequences are usually no more severe than a dog bite,” he said. “They’re not the same kind of bites made by 10- to 20-foot-long white sharks that you have off the coast of California. Here we see a different style of attack, primarily perpetrated by smaller fish-eating sharks such as spinners and blacktips that are less than 6 to 7 feet long, which because of their size normally seek smaller prey.”

There have been 231 shark attacks between the first one reported in 1956 in Volusia County and 2008, said Burgess, who works at UF’s Florida Museum of Natural History. The study, part of which was published recently in the edited volume “Sharks and Their Relatives II,” uses statistics from 220 of those cases for which detailed information is available.

Human, shark and environmental factors combine to create a perfect storm of favorable conditions in Volusia County for attacks, particularly near Ponce Inlet between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, he said.

The more people in the water the greater the chances they will encounter a shark, and New Smyrna Beach south of the inlet is a “hot spot” for surfers with its well developed sand bars and good waves, Burgess said. Hand splashing and feet kicking provoke sharks, which bite and release what they mistake for normal prey items in the turbid waters, he said.

Also, the strong tidal flow in the inlet makes it “an aquatic smorgasbord of food items for sharks, barracudas, mackerel and other large predators,” boosting shark numbers, he said.

Young white males were attacked most because they spend the most time in the water, Burgess said. Ninety percent of victims were male, 77 percent of 196 victims were between 11 and 30 years old and in the 171 cases where race was known, 98 percent were white, he said.

Well over half of the 220 victims were bit on the leg — 158 — more than five times the number bit on the arms — 34 — the second highest body part to be injured, he said.

Surfers were the most frequent victims, making up 61 percent of the total, Burgess said. They tended to be bitten more in the early morning and late afternoon when waves were highest and they spend more time surfing, he said.

“At the time of the attack, most of the surfers were sitting or holding onto the board waiting for a wave, which explains why most surf victims were bitten on the legs,” he said.

Sharks are not weekend warriors. Rather it is human leisure that leads to the fewest number of human encounters on Wednesdays and the highest on Sundays, followed by Saturdays, Burgess said. “There are a fair number of attacks on Fridays as well, reflective of people skipping work and taking three-day weekends,” he said.

The greatest number of attacks occurred during new moons, followed by full moons, the edges of the lunar extreme when the moon has its biggest pull on the tidal phase, Burgess said. Probably the moon’s phases influence the movements and reproductive patterns of fish, the shark’s food source, just as they affect human behavior, he said.

Not surprisingly, attacks were highest during the swimming season, from May through October, peaking in August, Burgess said. They spiked in April as sharks began their seasonal northern migration up the eastern coast of the United States, he said.

Most incidents involved one bite, occurred in turbid, murky or muddy waters and were at the water’s surface, Burgess said. Only one attack was on a diver, he said.

More victims wore swimsuits that were black and white than any other color combination, followed by black and yellow, attesting to sharks’ abilities to see contrast, he said.

Between 1999 and 2008, shark attacks worldwide numbered 639, of which there were 428 reports in the United States, 275 in Florida and 135 in Volusia County. Burgess said.

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Almost 12 feet long and caught within 2-300 yards for the lake’s swimming area. Scary!

Expert trappers went alligator hunting again Tuesday morning, and this time they weren’t disappointed, catching and killing a gator more than 11 feet long at Lake Mary Jane where a swimmer was attacked.

The 11-foot, 6-inch gator was trapped in open water about 200 to 300 yards from the lake’s swimming area.

“The alligator fits the size, location and behavior profile of the alligator described by the bite victim,” said Joy Hill, spokeswoman for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

On Sunday, a gator bit swimmer Doug McCard while he trained at Lake Mary Jane in east Orange County.

After securing and euthanizing the gator, wildlife officials snapped and released photos of the reptile, including one that showed off a large jaw and dull but effective teeth.

McCard suffered five puncture wounds to his right shoulder, another to his hipbone and several more on his back in what authorities described as a rare attack.

The trapper will process the gator to sell the meat and its hide, as payment for removing the reptile, Hill said.

Park personnel will continue to look for gators in the lake, she said.

Officials said residents can call the public-nuisance alligator hotline at 1-866-392-4286 if they spot a gator.

The wildlife agency will evaluate the complaint and determine if the alligator should be removed. The reptiles are trapped if they are a threat to the welfare of the public, livestock, pets or property.

Only licensed trappers are permitted to legally remove alligators. It is illegal for the general public to kill, capture or move nuisance alligators.

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.

On Sunday morning, Doug McCard, a 35-year-old sales associate for A-1 Septic in Kissimmee, Florida was attacked by an alligator just as he was beginning a swim training session for a planned Half Ironman in June. He is now looking to compete in a duathlon, where no swimming is involved.

“It was a real hard hit and I felt the teeth,” McCard told a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center about the incident in Lake Mary Jane in Moss Park. “I started thinking to myself ‘…I can’t believe a gator is biting me.”

“I was shocked,” he said to the news conference. “[Before starting swimming] I always stand and take a look to see if the gators are there. There are gators in every lake, but I saw nothing [Sunday] so I swam like I always do.

“It hit me like a Mack truck.”

As he recalled in the news conference, McCard stood up in the shallow brackish waters and started to swing with his elbows, not unlike an NBA tough guy trying to clear out a rebound. “I got in a pretty good elbow to the head and he released me,” he said of the gator he estimated to be between 8 and 10 feet in length. “I started yelling to try to scare him and backed off until I could run out of the water.”

Witnesses said they heard McCard screaming and yelling and running out of the water bleeding from the chest.

The gator landed five puncture wounds to McCard’s right shoulder, one to his hip, and a few more to his back. Doctors kept him overnight in case of infection.

McCard, described as an “alligator aware” Florida native who had been swimming in Florida lakes “thousands of times,” said thinks he startled the alligator and it reacted by chomping him.

“If it was after me, it would have probably taken me under and rolled because that is what Gators do,” he told the Orlando Sentinel.

McCard said he hopes to begin training again soon, but will likely avoid Lake Mary Jane.

A Wikipedia entry notes that at least 20 persons have been killed by alligators in Florida in the last quarter century. That number far exceeds the number of persons killed by sharks throughout the United States.

A man hired by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission set traps trying to catch the alligator, but so far has not caught the reptile.

Prior to this attack, sharks have been the primary predators threatening triathletes training in open water. In April 2008, a great white shark killed retired veterinarian Dave Martin who was taking an early morning swim in Solana Beach, California with fellow members of the San Diego Triathlon Club.

In June of 2000, 44-year-old triathlete Chuck Anderson was taking an early morning training swim in Gulf Shores, Alabama when a bull shark grabbed his arm and dragged him down to the bottom in about eight feet of water and tore off his arm.

In a related incident in 2001 in Pensacola, Florida, triathlete Vance Flosenzier of Mentone Alabama, who finished 40 seconds ahead of Chuck Anderson in Anderson’s return to triathlon after the 2000 shark attack, wrestled off a shark attacking an 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast and saved the boy’s life.

Most Florida triathletes are aware that alligators lurk in nearly every inland lake pond and river. But many, like McCard and age group star Joe Bonness of Naples Florida, continue to fearlessly utilize Florida’s lakes, ponds and streams for open water swimming. Bonness, in fact, has achieved triathlon’s equivalent of John Wayne status among foreign rivals for his tales of choosing to swimming in alligator-inhabited waters near his Gulf Coast home in Naples.

Now, McCard and some fellow residents of Kissimmee – not far from the artificial thrills of Disney World – say they won’t surrender the pleasures of lake swimming to the occasional objections of the natural residents of Florida’s inland waters.

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida  (AP) — The Volusia County Beach Patrol says a 10-year-old girl is recovering following a shark attack in New Smyrna Beach.

Beach patrol Capt. Jack Driskell said the girl returned to the sand to play after the Saturday morning incident. She didn’t suffer serious injuries.

The 10-year-old was in murky water when the shark nipped on her right ankle, which was later bandaged.

The shark left six puncture wounds.

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Rabid animals are a serious threat because they lack the part of the brain functioning that tells animals to relent, so they will literally attack until you are dead or until they are dead or subdued… This poor man.

By Kim Hackett

Call it an utter otter horror.

A 96-year-old man was ambushed and mauled by a rabid otter early Friday morning as he walked past brush near a lake in the Venice East neighborhood.

Morrell Denton was midway through his two-mile daily walk when the otter confronted him on the sidewalk. Denton said he thought it was someone’s pet.

But the otter “grabbed me by the foot and pulled on my leg and I went down,” said Denton in his living room, shortly after returning from the Venice Regional Medical Center’s emergency room about seven hours after the attack.

Covered in white bandages on both hands, and with nine stitches on his badly bruised forehead, Denton said he pulled the otter off with one hand before the animal started biting him on the other. The animal bit him to the bone on several fingers.

“I kept trying to get him off me,” Denton said. “It’s like nothing I’ve heard of.”

Two men saw the attack and raced to Denton’s aid, one striking at the otter with a shovel as the other called 911.

Christopher Janssen, 36, was bitten by the otter but the other rescuer, 53-year-old Raymond Duval was not injured.

An ambulance arrived minutes later, taking Denton and Duval to the hospital.

Both men were treated and released. Sarasota County’s health department issued a rabies alert Friday afternoon after the animal tested positive for the disease. Another otter tested positive for rabies in mid-February after attacking two horses in Sarasota County.

A biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said otters are not typically aggressive.

“They are skittish for the most part,” said biologist Jeff Gore.

Sheriff’s deputies shot the animal dead.

EARLIER REPORT

An otter attacked and wounded a 96-year-old man out for a stroll in Venice early today, and then turned on two men who came to his rescue, injuring another.

Morrell Denton, 96, and Christopher Janssen, 36, suffered unspecified injuries during the attack on Venice East Boulevard, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. The men were treated at nearby Venice Medical Center and released.

The otter was killed.

According to reports, Denton was walking along the 300 block of the roadway near an area of thick brush, sometime around 4:30 a.m. Friday, when the otter charged out and attacked him. The attack sent Denton sprawling to the ground.

Janssen and another man, Raymond Duval, 53, saw the attack and raced to Denton’s aid, striking at the otter with gardening tools as one of the pair called 911. Jensen was wounded during the scrap; Duval avoided injury.

The otter was killed.

Almost.

After a time, the animal roused again and began to head back into the brush. But after one attack on a human, there was concern the animal may be a danger to the public.

The otter was killed.

Definitely.

It was not immediately clear whether the rescuers or responding deputies put down the otter. Sarasota County animal service crews responded and took the otter to examine it.

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It appears the experts have backed off the theory that he was killed by a number of sharks.

STUART — A shark attack that killed a kiteboarder on Wednesday was the rarest and most frightening kind of strike, a case of a powerful 9-foot predator likely meaning to kill and eat its human prey, a leading shark expert said Friday.

“There’s a big difference between the normal hit-and-run bites that we see on the coast of Florida and what we’re unfortunately experiencing here this week,” said George Burgess, keeper of the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File. “This thing here was closer to our preconception about what a shark attack is.”

That preconception, stoked by books and movies, doesn’t hold for the vast majority of shark bites, which occur when sharks snap at humans while going after fish. But in rare instances, a shark will come across a human bobbing in the waves and attack with intent.

That’s what happened to Stephen Schafer, 38, in the water south of Stuart Beach on Wednesday, Burgess said.

“This was the real thing,” Burgess said. “This was a bigger shark apparently seeing a human as an appropriately sized item worth pursuing.”

About 4:15 p.m., Schafer was a quarter-mile offshore when at least one large shark, probably a bull or tiger, attacked and mortally wounded him, according to Burgess and autopsy results. The Stuart man died of blood loss despite a Martin County lifeguard’s efforts to save him, said Dr. Linda O’Neil, who examined Schafer’s body Thursday night.

O’Neil said Schafer was bitten twice, once on the buttocks and once on the right thigh. She said the bites, which were 9 to 10 inches in diameter, likely came from the same shark.

Schafer had a set of puncture wounds on each buttock, “like it bit across his bottom,” O’Neil said. “The upper jaw got one side and the lower jaw got the other side.”

The shark delivered a fatal, tearing bite to Schafer’s right thigh, a wound so deep that one tooth struck his femur, O’Neil said.

“The femoral artery was intact but all the smaller arteries that lead to the femoral in the region of the right thigh were severed,” O’Neil said, which led Schafer to bleed out while lifeguard Daniel Lund, 46, fought wind and waves to drag him to safety.

Schafer probably lost more than 2.5 liters of blood, or half the blood in his body, O’Neil said.

The doctor said Schafer also had a bite wound to his right hand. He probably got it trying to fend off the shark as it bit his thigh, she said.

The autopsy couldn’t determine how long Schafer had been bleeding before he was dragged in, but O’Neil said it likely was a matter of minutes before the lifeguard got to him.

Burgess also examined Schafer’s body Thursday night and agreed with O’Neil’s findings. He said the size of the bite marks and the manner of attack indicated the shark likely was 8 or 9 feet long.

Bull and tiger sharks roam the Florida coast year-round. A bull shark was responsible for the state’s last fatal attack in 2005 in the Panhandle, which Burgess said was “very similar” to Wednesday’s incident.

This was the first fatal shark attack ever recorded in Martin County.

Some scientists have theorized that bull sharks are more aggressive because their bodies produce more testosterone, a hypothesis yet to be proven.

About four fatal shark attacks are recorded worldwide each year.

As Burgess studied Wednesday’s attack, he offered these words of warning to surfers and swimmers: “To reduce risks, it’s recommended people stick together in groups and stay close to shore.”

Teague Taylor, a close friend of Schafer’s, said Schafer always stressed to him the importance of the buddy system.

“I grew up watching way too much Jaws,” Taylor said. “If there’s anybody who’s hesitant or, for lack of a better word, scared, it’s me.”

But, he added, he and other surfers were determined to get back in the water.

“It’ll be good for all of us,” he said. “We all need to get back out there. The more we prolong it, the more that fear kind of sets in .”

Link

My money’s on Bull Sharks. Those things are scary.

Related Stories

• Shark attack: Lifeguard hailed as a hero in rescue attempt
• Florida shark attack a Great White?

Scientists have not yet conclusively identified the species of shark responsible for a fatal attack on a kite surfer off a Stuart, Fla., beach, but they have ruled out any involvement by a great white shark.

Some media reports speculated that a group of white sharks might have attacked the kiteboarder on Wednesday. Florida-based shark experts say the reports were based on an apparent misquote and media hype.

“Our investigation definitively indicates it was not a great white shark,” George Burgess, director of shark research at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said on Friday.

Instead, he said, an examination of the victim’s wounds suggests that the attacking shark was eight to nine feet long and was more than likely a bull shark or tiger shark.

He said that although the lifeguard who attempted to rescue the kiteboarder saw several sharks nearby, only one shark bit the man. According to officials, there was a very deep and fatal bite to his thigh, a second bite to his buttocks, and a defensive wound to his hand.

Most shark attacks are hit-and-run

Most Florida shark bites are quick nips, like a hit-and-run, experts say. This attack was different.

“The attacking shark really meant business. This was not likely to be a mistaken-identity situation,” Mr. Burgess said. “This was a shark that was attacking with some real meaning.”

Although Burgess was able to narrow the range of potential species involved in the attack, officials have made arrangements to consult a second shark-bite expert to help solve the mystery.

Grant Gilbert, a research scientist in Vero Beach, says he will meet on Monday with the Martin County medical examiner to try to match the victim’s wounds with an extensive inventory of shark jaws. It is a kind of forensic shark-bite version of “CSI.”

“Sharks can be identified by their dentition [teeth],” he says.

A tiger shark has saw-edged teeth on both its upper and lower jaws. In contrast, a bull shark has pointed teeth on its lower jaw and triangular, serrated teeth on the upper jaw.

The pointed teeth are designed to hold prey, while the upper teeth are built for cutting. According to Gilbert, puncture wounds produced by the lower jaw would be present in a bite from a bull shark, but not from a tiger shark.

Forensic evidence focuses on bite marks

But that may not end the inquiry, he says. Two other sharks, the dusky shark and the silky shark, share similar jaw configurations with the bull shark. At that point, Gilbert says, the sharks may be differentiated by the number of teeth in the upper and lower jaws. Much depends on the evidence from the bites, he says.

In 1998, a 9-year-old boy was killed by a shark near Vero Beach. Gilbert worked on that case as well. The two main suspects, he said, were a bull shark and a tiger shark.

The bite characteristics allowed officials to rule out the bull shark. They concluded the attack was caused by a tiger shark.

Tiger sharks prey on sea turtles, and their jaws are evolved to the task, Gilbert said. “It was a young tiger shark, and it thought it had a sea turtle,” he said, of the Vero Beach attack 12 years ago.

Migrating sharks not probably involved

Televised reports about the Stuart shark attack have included stock footage of sharks migrating up Florida’s east coast, Gilbert says. But those migrating sharks, the research scientist says, are probably too small and unlikely to be involved in an attack like the one Wednesday.

Gilbert says he suspects that the kite surfer plunged into the water at exactly the worst place. “It is possible that he actually fell on the shark,” he said. “If there were a number of sharks out there, it could be that he just fell at the wrong spot at the wrong time.” The researcher added, “We’ll never know.”

There have only been 28 recorded shark bites in Martin County since 1882, says Mark Perry, director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart. This week’s attack was the first fatality in the county.

The victim, Stephen Schafer, was well known in Stuart, said Mr. Perry, whose office is across the street from Stuart Beach, where the attack took place.

A memorial ceremony is set for Saturday at Stuart Beach, where Mr. Schafer’s friends will hold a barbecue and a “paddle out,” in which surfers paddle offshore and form a large circle in remembrance.

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STUART — A Martin County Sheriff’s Office report released this morning said the 38-year-old man who died of a possible shark attack off Stuart Beach on Wednesday had an 8- to 10-inch bite on his right thigh and numerous teeth marks on his right and left buttocks.

The report also said Stephen Howard Schafer had bruising inside his right arm, and his right hand had wounds that could have occurred as he tried to fight off a shark.

Schafer was kiteboard surfing south of Stuart Beach at about 4:15 p.m. when lifeguard Daniel Lund looking through binoculars spotted him floating about a quarter-mile offshore in an unguarded stretch of ocean.

The lifeguard paddled to him on a rescue board. He saw blood in the water and said Schafer was screaming that a shark had bit him. Lund began swimming back to shore with the victim in tow, the report said.

Schafer was talking to Lund as they swam, but eventually stopped.

Rescue workers gave Schafer CPR before paramedics brought him to Martin Memorial Hospital, where he died.

Schafer was in a good mood Sunday, sharing a warm conversation over dinner with his mother and stepfather and making plans for the future.

Schafer’s stepfather Edwin Cox on Thursday said it was the last time he saw Schafer before his death.

“His mother had just talked to him yesterday,” Cox said. “We were supposed to have dinner again last night.”

Cox said Schafer’s mother, Kathryn Cox, was distraught over her son’s death and declined to make any comment.

It is still unclear what type of shark may have been responsible for Schafer’s death, but experts say it is likely one of the larger species known to inhabit South Florida waters such as a bull, tiger or even a white shark.

George Burgess, keeper of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History said early this morning he was trying to reach Martin County authorities to get more details on the incident.

It is the first shark attack death in Florida waters since 2005.

Burgess said he didn’t want to guess on the exact type of shark involved without more details, but that considering the attack was fatal, it’s unlikely it was some of the smaller sharks more common to South Florida waters such as the spinner or black tip.

“Those are the species involved in the occasional nips off the east coast, especially in Volusia County, but they are not man-eaters,” Burgess said. “If, indeed, the gentleman yesterday was bitten by sharks, it’s far more likely it was a larger species such as a bull or a tiger, or a white shark if it was in the area.”

Burgess said white sharks typically don’t make it much further south than Jacksonville because of they like the cooler water temperatures.

“The white shark is indeed in the area, or conceivably could be, but they are very irregular visitors,” Burgess said.

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office was investigating the death, said sheriff’s Capt. Mark McKinley.

“I’ve been here 25 years,” McKinley said. “To my knowledge, this is the first shark-related fatality we’ve seen.”

In fact, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties have all escaped fatal shark attacks until now, according to the International Shark Attack File.

According to reports this morning, authorities have re-opened Stuart Beach to the public.

In addition, schools of sharks were seen off Palm Beach this morning. There were easily more than a hundred in the water off Reef Road, according to reports.

No beaches are reported to be closed.

Schafer’s friends told TCPalm.com they are shocked by his death.

“I’ve never heard of multiple sharks in this area surrounding someone and fatally wounding him,” said the victim’s childhood friend, Teague Taylor, 36. “He was the nicest person ever.”

On Tuesday, the day before the fatal attack, Taylor told TCPalm.com he was surfing near where his friend was attacked and he saw several sharks.

“You always think in the back of your mind that they (sharks) are out there,” he said.

Jordan Schwartz, who has known Schafer for five years, told TCPalm.com that Schafer was a very experienced kiteboard surfer.

“He was a super nice guy. Always mellow. I don’t think he had any enemies,” he said.

Sharks have been gathering along Palm Beach County beaches recently in their annual chase of baitfish, Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue Lt. Don May said last week when a hammerhead shark was caught off Ocean Reef Park.

Lemon, bull and hammerhead sharks often are seen off area beaches this time of year, Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue Lt. Don May said.

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MARTIN COUNTY — The death of 38-year-old kiteboard surfer Stephen Howard Schafer of Stuart, who was attacked by sharks Wednesday afternoon, put Martin County and the Treasure Coast in the national and international spotlight.

The attack was one of the lead items on national television morning shows on Thursday, including the “Today” show and “Good Morning America.”

A lead video on ABCnews.com featured the attack, including an interview with Daniel Wouters of Martin County Fire Rescue. Wouters said that when lifeguards reached Schafer, they found he had been “bitten several times’ and that they first moved him onto a surfboard “to somewhat protect him.’

The video also featured a witness identified as Jim Smith, who said of the lifeguards’ efforts: “I can’t emphasize enough they did their best. The guy just wasn’t moving.

“It was heartbreaking in a way.’

ABCnews.com pointed out that the attack was “at the height of Florida’s busy tourist season.’

The lead video on MSNBC.com Thursday morning was entitled, “Sharks swarm, kill kiteboarder off Fla. coast.’

Even the celebrity Web site lalate.com had “Stuart Beach Florida Shark Attack!’ as its second item under news on Thursday morning.

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STUART — The research scientist who matched tiger shark teeth to bite wounds during an autopsy of the Treasure Coast’s only other shark fatality says young great white sharks — the fish of Jaws notoriety — are among suspects in Wednesday’s fatal attack off Stuart’s coast.

A 38-year-old kiteboard surfer, Stephen Howard Schafer, 38, of Stuart was attacked by sharks Wednesday afternoon and died from his injuries, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

The scientist, Grant Gilmore, said the size and type of shark in Wednesday’s attack can be learned the same way it was in the 1998 death of 9-year-old James Willie Tellasmon north of Jaycee Park in Vero Beach: By comparing characteristic bite patterns from among many species that live or visit off the Treasure Coast to wounds.

“It can be done,” Gilmore said. “It would be nice to have closure on this, to know what it was, especially since the man, tragically, died.”

Great whites prefer colder northern Atlantic Ocean waters and aren’t usually thought of as a Florida shark. But smaller 6- to 8-foot ones migrate to Florida’s east coast during winter.

Of the many types of sharks off the Treasure Coast, three of the four species known to attack humans — great hammerheads, bulls and tigers — prefer warm water. They leave the area or go deep in winter.

“The only other species that gathers in abundance out there in the winter are the juvenile great white sharks,” Gilmore said. They eat their way through a migrating parade of 3- to 4-foot sharpnose sharks that travel south from New England waters to Florida.

Cooler ocean water usually keeps great whites north of Cape Canaveral, Gilmore said, but this winter has been unusually cold.

Gilmore said it is very unusual to have a person bitten by a shark off Florida’s east coast this time of year. With only early news accounts for information, he wouldn’t guess which species was involved in Wednesday’s attack.

Doctoral work done by Jon Dodrill documented fishermen catching great whites off Florida’s east coast between Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach. Gilmore was Dodrill’s professor when Dodrill did the census in the mid-1970s that is still considered an authoratative source for which sharks live and travel off Florida’s east coast.

Today, Dodrill runs Florida’s artificial reefs program.

The attack on James in 1998 happened in shallow water and was attributed to a young tiger shark about six feet long.

It was Martin County’s first fatal shark attack, according to records going back to 1882.

About 4 p.m. Wednesday, a lifeguard was looking through his binoculars and saw Schafer, the kiteboard surfer, in distress about a quarter of a mile off shore from an unguarded beach just south of Stuart Beach, officials said.

When the lifeguard paddled out to Schafer, he was encircled by sharks, officials said.

The lifeguard put Schafer on his rescue board and paddled to shore where Schafer said he had been bitten by a shark, authorities said. Officials performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the victim, who had multiple bite wounds, and he was rushed to Martin Memorial North Medical Center, where he later died.

Schafer’s friends said they are shocked by his death.

“I’ve never heard of multiple sharks in this area surrounding someone and fatally wounding him,” said the victim’s childhood friend, Teague Taylor, 36. “He was the nicest person ever.”

Normally, sharks appear in the area to feast on bait fish migrating to the area.

Taylor said he was surprised to see the sharks because they normally come around the spring. On Tuesday, the day before the fatal attack, Taylor said he was surfing near where his friend was attacked and he saw several sharks.

“You always think in the back of your mind that they (sharks) are out there,” he said.

Jordan Schwartz, who has known Schafer for five years, said he was a very experienced kiteboard surfer.

“He was a super nice guy. Always mellow. I don’t think he had any enemies,” he said.

Including Wednesday’s fatal attack, there have been about 14 deaths in Florida attributed to sharks, according to records provided by University of Florida Museum of Natural History.

REDUCING RISK OF SHARK ATTACKS

Always stay in groups; sharks are more likely to attack a lone person.

Do not wander too far from shore — this isolates an individual and additionally places one far away from assistance.

Avoid being in the water during darkness or twilight hours when sharks are most active and have a competitive sensory advantage.

Do not enter the water if bleeding or if menstruating — a shark’s olfactory ability is acute, and sharks are attracted to blood.

Do not wear shiny jewelry because the reflected light resembles the sheen of fish scales.

Use extra caution when waters are murky and avoid uneven tanning and bright-colored clothing — sharks see contrast particularly well.

Refrain from excess splashing, and do not allow pets in the water because of their erratic movements.

The International Shark Attack File Web site, University of Florida Museum of Natural History, www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm

TREASURE COAST SHARK ATTACKS

Indian River County: 17 (one fatal, 1998)

St. Lucie County: 29 (none fatal)

Martin County: 28 (one fatal, 2010)

Source: International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida Museum of Natural History and media reports

SHARK ENCOUNTER OCCURRENCES

Attacks are most common in Central Florida. Here’s a look at unprovoked attacks in the state from 1882 to 2008.

231:Volusia

96: Brevard

58: Palm Beach

28: Martin

29: St. Lucie

17: Indian River

11: Broward

10: Dade

19: Florida Keys

Source: International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida Museum of National History.

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A man was killed by sharks in a rare fatal attack this afternoon in the waters off Stuart, authorities said.

Stephen Howard Schafer, 38, of Stuart was kite surfing south of Stuart Beach about 4:15 p.m. when the sharks attacked him, according to Bureau Chief Doug Killane of Martin County Fire-Rescue and Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Rhonda Irons.

A lifeguard through his binoculars spotted the man floating about a quarter-mile offshore in an unguarded stretch of ocean, Irons said. The lifeguard paddled to him on a rescue board, pulled the man away from the sharks and carried him back to shore.

Rescue workers gave the man CPR before paramedics brought him to Martin Memorial Hospital, where he died.

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office was investigating the death, said sheriff’s Capt. Mark McKinley.

“I’ve been here 25 years,” McKinley said. “To my knowledge, this is the first shark-related fatality we’ve seen.”

In fact, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties have all escaped fatal shark attacks until now, according to the International Shark Attack File compiled at the University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History

Schafer’s friends told TCPalm.com they are shocked by his death.

“I’ve never heard of multiple sharks in this area surrounding someone and fatally wounding him,” said the victim’s childhood friend, Teague Taylor, 36. “He was the nicest person ever.”

On Tuesday, the day before the fatal attack, Taylor told TCPalm.com he was surfing near where his friend was attacked and he saw several sharks.

“You always think in the back of your mind that they (sharks) are out there,” he said.

Jordan Schwartz, who has known Schafer for five years, told TCPalm.com that Schafer was a very experienced kiteboard surfer.

“He was a super nice guy. Always mellow. I don’t think he had any enemies,” he said.

Sharks have been gathering along Palm Beach County beaches recently in their annual chase of baitfish, Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue Lt. Don May said last week when a hammerhead shark was caught off Ocean Reef Park.

Lemon, bull and hammerhead sharks often are seen off area beaches this time of year, Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue Lt. Don May said.

It was unknown whether Stuart Beach would be open Thursday.

According to the International Shark Attack File compiled at the University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History, Martin County had never had a fatal shark attack before. A person was killed in Indian River County in 1998.

The last shark-bite fatality in Florida was in 2005, according to the file, in Walton County in the Panhandle.

However, in 2008, Florida had the most unprovoked attacks in the United States — the total of 32 attacks was equal to the 32 reported in 2007. Surfers/windsurfers were at highest risk, with nearly 57 percent of the reported attacks in the report’s compilation.

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This is an old article, but a very interesting one that explains how a growing human population leads to more wildlife attacks.

Annmarie Campbell lived in Tennessee, but she grew up in central Florida, and she had vacationed before in the rustic two-bedroom cabin on a creek in Florida’s Ocala National Forest. Two weeks ago, she was there again with a few members of her extended family. That Sunday the aspiring artist, 23, slipped into the water to snorkel her way back to the cabin. A few minutes later, her former stepfather’s wife Jackie Barrett left the sandbar where they had been sunning themselves and followed Campbell. The young woman was nowhere to be found. Barrett grabbed a kayak and paddled downstream in search of her. No luck. So Barrett headed back toward the cabin–to find her husband Mark and a family friend frantically gouging at the eyes of an 11 1/2-ft. alligator and prying at its jaws, firmly clamped on Campbell’s upper body. By the time the creature finally let go, it was too late. Campbell was dead, with massive head trauma and lungs filled with water.

The incident would have been shocking by itself. But it was not the only one. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records an average of about seven alligator attacks every year, yet they are rarely fatal: since 1948, only 17 humans had been confirmed killed by the huge reptiles. But in the five days leading up to Campbell’s death, two other women had been partly eaten by alligators. Three deadly assaults in the space of a week seemed like too much of a coincidence. Floridians, who tend to be casual about their state reptile, were suddenly hypervigilant to a danger that seemed to be lurking in every body of freshwater bigger than a bathtub. Calls to hotlines skyrocketed, and all over the state people were asking themselves what could possibly be going on.

The circumstances of each death offered no obvious clues. They happened in different parts of the state: Yovy Suarez Jimenez, 28, was killed in Sunrise, just north of Miami, and Judy Cooper, 43, was found 20 miles north of St. Petersburg. Although nobody witnessed either attack, authorities believe that Jimenez was sitting at the edge of a canal, dangling her feet in the water, when she was seized by an alligator and dragged in. And there is no reason to believe that Cooper was swimming.

In short, the unusual spate of fatal attacks may have been a ghastly coincidence–but that doesn’t mean they were entirely random. According to wildlife experts, several factors may have recently upped the odds of alligator aggression. For one thing, this is the time of year when the reptiles emerge from cold-weather quiescence and enter the mating season. That makes them more territorial and more aggressive than normal. Beyond that, the state has been experiencing an extended drought over the past several years, shrinking the animals’ natural habitat and forcing them to forage in areas where humans have created ponds, canals and swimming pools.

There are also more alligators around today than ever because of the reptile’s 20-year stint on the federal endangered-species list. Back in 1967, when it was formally listed, trapping for meat and hides had reduced the alligator population in Florida to no more than 300,000. Now there are 1 million to 2 million. At the same time, the state’s human population has exploded. As a result, development is pushing into wetlands that were once pure, alligator-friendly wilderness, and agriculture is draining huge swaths of alligator habitat. Everglades National Park is just one-seventh the size of the historic Everglades swampland, forcing the animals to share territory that humans consider their own.

It’s a familiar story. In the American West, mountain lions are getting squeezed, and lethal attacks by the big cats have become more frequent. In the Northeast, it is black bears, foraging in suburban backyards. In Florida, it’s alligators. And unlike cougars and bears, which are rarely spotted, alligators are everywhere and are almost always docile. Along a path just inside Everglades park’s Shark Valley entrance, for example, alligators loll along the bank of the adjacent canal, as uninterested in the people as they are in the bugs that swirl overhead. Yet park employees have seen tourists run over alligators with bikes and wheelchairs, throw rocks at them and stab them with sticks. People even put kids on the backs of the creatures for a gator photo op. “The alligator isn’t the problem. It’s humans,” says park naturalist Maria Thomson. “We’re pushing them to the limit.”

And every so often, they push back. Whenever an alligator kills a human, the state sends out trappers to catch and kill it. The animals responsible for the three recent attacks have all been trapped. Parts of Jimenez were found in the belly of a 9 1/2-ft. alligator, Cooper’s arm and hand were recovered from an 8 1/2-footer, and Campbell’s killer was identified by scratches around its eye. But it’s not as if those particular alligators were more dangerous than most, and destroying them won’t prevent future attacks. Officials say the best ways to avoid becoming dinner for an alligator are not to feed the animals, which can lead them to lose their natural wariness; to stay away from the water’s edge at dusk and dawn, when the creatures tend to hunt; and to be generally wary in and around the water. “A little gator common sense,” says state-certified trapper Todd Hardwick, “takes you a long way.”

Even so, people are still going to run afoul of alligators. And while three deaths in a week establish a benchmark of horror that probably won’t be repeated soon, encounters between alligators and people are bound to increase. “We’re putting our lives on the line,” says Hardwick, “so you can have a safe backyard.”

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COCOA BEACH, Fla. — A 10-year-old Ohio boy was attacked by a shark on Tuesday in the waters off Cocoa Beach, according to beach patrol officials.

The boy was bitten on his foot and his upper thigh at about 11:30 a.m. in shallow waters near the Ocean Landings condominiums in the 900 block of state Road A1A.

The boy was able to reach the shore on his own.

“It’s not life-threatening, but he was bitten on the leg, that’s the report we got,” Orlando Dominguez, spokesman for Brevard County Fire-Rescue, told Local 6 News partner Florida Today. “He was stable.”

The boy was taken by ambulance to Cape Canaveral Hospital for treatment.

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A 22-year-old lifeguard at the Jupiter Island Beach Club was bitten by a shark while he was surfing during his time off.

JUPITER ISLAND, Fla. — A 22-year-old Jupiter Island Beach Club lifeguard who was surfing on his time off was bitten by a shark Monday morning.

Jupiter Medical Center officials identified him as Steve Burdelski of Hobe Sound.

Martin County fire-rescue crews were called to a shark bite at the club at about 9:30 a.m.

Burdelski, who was bitten on the foot, was taken by ambulance to Jupiter Medical Center. He was listed in stable condition, but his injuries are not considered life-threatening.

It is the second shark attack in the area in four days.

Melissa Hardcastle, 27, was also bitten on the foot by a shark while surfing off Jupiter on Friday afternoon.

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Shark bites surfer near south jetty

By JULIE MURPHY
STAFF WRITER

A Lake Mary surfer was the victim of mistaken identity this afternoon when a 4-foot shark grabbed his right leg off New Smyrna Beach – the eighth shark bite of the year, officials said.

The 18-year-old man, who was not identified by the Volusia County Beach Patrol, suffered only minor injuries, including a bump on the shin where the shark hit him and lacerations to the back of the calf and the front of the shin.

He was one of about 300 surfers who came to “the point,” about 300 yards south of the south jetty, to take advantage of the Veterans Day holiday and spectacular waves, Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn said.

“He was in 4 to 5 feet of water,” Petersohn said. “(The water) was very murky, with baitfish and birds everywhere. It has all the signs of mistaken identity.”

The teen was treated on the beach by lifeguards and EVAC Ambulance paramedics, but friends drove him to the hospital, Petersohn said.

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Rip currents blamed for drowning in Ormond Beach surf; rip warnings issued countywide for today

ORMOND BEACH — Rip currents were blamed for a 55-year-old tourist’s drowning Saturday, the Volusia County Beach Patrol said.

Philip Standley, 55, of Noblesville, Ind., was swimming in waist-deep water with his brother when they got caught in a rip current, Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn said of the 3 p.m. incident near the Granada Avenue Approach.

A lifeguard rescued him and broght him back to shore in the care of bystanders, because she had to go back out and save his brother, too. While she was rescuing the brother, Standley stopped breathing and was pronounced dead on arrival at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach.

Standley’s death is the fourth drowning fatality in Volusia beaches so far this year.

In all, lifeguards made 30 rescues Saturday, including one in Ormond-by-the-Sea where they literally drove several miles to get to the swimmer because no lifeguards are posted up there, Petersohn said.

He said rip currents could be a problem Sunday as well.

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Officials believe they have found an alligator that escaped from a wildlife officer who brought the animal to his daughter’s school for show and tell.

Stan Kirkland, a spokesman for the Florida wildlife commission, says officials think the 5-foot alligator is in a Panhandle pond. Authorities weren’t able to capture the gator Friday.

Searchers scoured a wooded area surrounding the school Friday afternoon after the alligator jumped out of the man’s vehicle with its mouth taped shut.

Kirkland says alligators have “amazing” jumping ability and that allowed it to escape.

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TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 28 (UPI) — A Florida truck driver was bitten by two species of poisonous snakes while trying to retrieve his runa

Spokesman Will Darnell says John Agin, 46, was the 13th snake bite patient treated at University Community Hospital this year, the St. Petersburg (Fla.,) Times reports.

Agin said he was walking his rat terrier, Lil Bit, Tuesday when the dog ran away from him.

While chasing her, he suddenly felt a sharp, stinging pain in his right shin and when he looked down he saw a 10-inch, red-and-yellow snake gnawing on his foot.

Hillsborough County paramedics identified one bite as belonging to a pygmy rattlesnake. Hospital workers said a second bite was probably inflicted by a coral snake.

“It’s not impossible for snakes of two different kinds to be in the same area at the same time,” said Lt. Lisa Wood of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s anti-venom unit.

Agan said it’s not the first time he’s been bitten by a snake. He’s also had encounters with a water moccasin, a diamondback rattlesnake and some non-venomous species.

“They happened mostly around my yard,” he said.