A vacationer was bitten by a shark in shallow waters on Lengthy Island Wednesday night, simply hours after a surfer was chomped on close by — marking 5 feared shark assaults in New York in simply two weeks.
The most recent sufferer, solely recognized as a 49-year-old man from Arizona, was standing in waist-deep water on Hearth Island’s Seaview Seashore when he was attacked simply after 6 p.m., Suffolk County police stated.
The “shark got here up from behind and bit him on the left wrist and buttocks,” police stated in an announcement.
Nonetheless, the sufferer was in a position to stroll out of the water earlier than he was flown to Stony Brook College Hospital with non-life-threatening accidents, the drive stated.
The assault got here lower than 12 hours after 41-year-old legal professional Shawn Donnelly was bitten on the calf whereas browsing off close by Smith Level County Park in Shirley round 7:30 a.m.
That was additionally the place a 33-year-old lifeguard, Zach Gallo, had been bitten simply 10 days earlier.
In the meantime, a swimmer at Jones Seashore suffered a reduce proper foot that was additionally deemed a “attainable shark chunk” on June 30.
One other lifeguard was bitten on the foot by a shark whereas coaching about 150 to 200 yards offshore at Ocean Seashore on July 7, NBC New York reported.
On Thursday, swimming was halted on Hearth Island’s Robert Moses State Park for about 90 minutes after an off-duty lifeguard reported seeing a shark whereas browsing at 8 a.m., in response to Newsday.
Nassau police additionally responded to a reported shark sighting at Tobay Seashore in Oyster Bay at about 1:20 p.m, the paper stated. There have been no reported accidents.
The most recent scares got here as injured lifeguard Gallo returned to duties Thursday at Smith Level County Park, the seashore the place he was bitten on his hand and chest throughout coaching drills on July 3.
He instructed a press convention that he was apprehensive, however “as soon as I used to be within the water, I used to be simply completely satisfied to be again.”
“My fellow guards and I have been yelling, ‘Who’s prepared for spherical two?’” he joked.
Donnelly, the browsing lawyer bitten Wednesday, instructed Newsday that he was conscious of the sooner assaults earlier than he grew to become the newest sufferer in waters he has often surfed because the age of 12.
“It was a calculated threat that I acquired unsuitable,” he stated.
He believes his attacker was a 5-foot-long sand tiger shark that “got here below me” — one which he punched as a fortunate wave broke, pushing him to shore, he instructed the paper.
He initially thought he had escaped unhurt, however then “noticed the blood working down my leg and one clear chunk mark,” he stated of the 2-inch wound on his calf.
The legal professional stated it will not deter him from returning to using waves — and made clear he has no proper to hunt a declare in opposition to his attacker.
“I don’t begrudge him. He was simply doing his job — being a shark,” the lawyer stated.
Newsday additionally stated that swimming was halted at Hearth Island’s Robert Moses State Park for about 90 minutes Thursday morning after an off-duty lifeguard reported seeing a shark whereas browsing at 8 a.m.
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