Shark attacks at Surfside Beach in Texas are putting locals on alert after a teen was bitten in the leg.
A 15-year-old boy was boogie boarding on Monday afternoon in wist-deep water when a shark attacked him. The animal bit the teen on the left leg. The boy wasn't going down with a fight. He reached down and hit the shark on the head. The shark then bit him again on his left hand before leaving the boy alone, Chron reports.
According to Gregg Bisso, Surfside's assistant police chief, the boy's injuries were not life threatening and he is recovering at a local hospital. He had to be transported by Life Flight helicopter ambulance. The police, who double as paramedics, treated the teen until he could be transported.
"He was alert and oriented," Bisso said.
The teen claimed he was ok after the attack. He was swimming with friends when the attack took place at the beach in Brazoria County
The teen was swimming with friends from a church youth group about 2:45 p.m. at the beach in Brazoria County. His friends helped him get out of the water but he insisted he was fine.
"He said, 'I'm OK. I can walk,' " Bisso said.
According to shark expert George Burgess, the director of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, shark attacks along the Texas Gulf Coast are rare, but they have happened before.
"Generally speaking, the number of attacks are rare on the Gulf Coast and certainly in comparison to the Atlantic Coast," Burgess said.
The museum says that there have been 37 shark attacks on the Texas Gulf Coast since 1911. Only two of those were deadly including an attack in 1911 in Galveston County and an attack in Cameron County in 1962.
There have only been two other attacks in Brazoria County, where the recent attack took place. The most attacks in Texas took place in Galveston County at 15.
Shark attacks may be 10 times more likely on the Atlantic Coast, but Burgess says the attacks on the Gulf Coast may cause more injuries because of bull sharks. It is not clear what type of shark attacked the teen. However since he was bitten repeatedly, Burgess says it was likely an aggressive shark like a bull or lemon shark.
Galveston Beach Patrol Chief Peter Davis offers some advice for how to deal with sharks. He advises to shuffle your feet in shallow water so scare them away, avoid swimming in schools of fish, don't go in the water if you're bleeding, avoid estuaries and avoid tying caught fish on a line close to your body when wade fishing.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
