A teenage boy is the latest victim of a shark attack that happened this weekend in North Carolina. 6 WECT reports that the unidentified high school senior from Raleigh is recovering from a serious bite on his foot believed to be from that of a shark. The incident occurred Sunday at 11th and 12th Streets in Sunset Beach located in Brunswick County.
The teen claims he saw a shark in the water that was probably 2-to-3-feet-long. It apparently swam between his legs and bit him on the foot. Officials aren’t sure, however, if it was a shark or another type of animal that bit the boy. Police confirm that he had to be taken to the hospital to get stitches.
Family members tell 6 WECT that the teen’s wound is “sizable” and in the shape of a “V.”
According to the report, emergency officials say the boy is going to be okay.
Shark attacks are expected to rise this year, as The Huffington Post wrote in an article earlier this month. Last year, North Carolina was named as one of the many states in the nation that only had one shark attack; this year there have been at least two there.
The report also notes that National Geographic compiled their own research, and for every human killed by a shark, humans kill “two million” sharks.
In 2013, a total of 47 shark attacks were reported with one of those being a fatality.
Director of Florida Program for Shark Research George Burgess tells Discovery News that the main reasons for a greater number of humans being injured by sharks centers around three things: a higher number of people are entering the ocean every year. An increasing number of great white sharks in the ocean is attributed to global climate change, which “has resulted in warmer waters to the north, prompting humans to enter waters earlier in the season” and stay in them later.
In Cape Cod, for example, sharks are closer to shore because their main food source — the gray seal — has returned in multiple numbers. Boston.com reports that for decades the seals were nearly wiped out because fisherman killed them so they wouldn’t take their fish. In 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted, and since that time seals have exploded in population. Their thriving existence makes the great white’s food source plentiful.
The Inquisitr also has an article out on how humans can prevent a shark attack via a tech device sonar.
[Image via Commons Wikimedia ]