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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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 Sun Jun 26, 2005 8:53 pm Shark Attack Kills 14-Year-Old Girl in Florida |
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| Quote: | Surfer Describes Trying to Save the Teen From Predator
By BILL KACZOR, AP
DESTIN, Fla. (June 26) - Tim Dicus was surfing when he heard the scream. He turned and saw a girl swimming as fast as she could - and another one face down in a bloody circle of water.
Dicus, 54, paddled over to the wounded 14-year-old girl, who had been swimming on a boogie board about 100 yards offshore.
"Right next to her was the shark, about to come up and attack her again,'' Dicus said. He put the girl on his surf board and the shark - which appeared to be a bull shark about 8 feet long - went after her hand.
"He just followed us right to the beach,'' Dicus said. "He was determined to finish lunch. I hate to put it that way, but that was what he was trying to do.''
The girl was bitten on the thigh, and was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, said Walton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Shank.
Speaking through tears, Wendy Daigle told The Associated Press on Sunday that the victim was her daughter, Jamie. The woman had no other comment. The Gonzales, La., girl was vacationing with friends.
Dicus said he punched the shark on the nose as it tried to attack him. Two other swimmers came with a raft, which they put the girl in and towed to shore.
Jeff White, 49, of Atlanta, said his son was in the raft.
"He said at one point, the shark was underneath them,'' White said. "So they stopped paddling. Somebody distracted the shark and they brought the girl the rest of the way in.''
White said his son, Chris White, 23, told his father that "she probably may have already been gone before they got her to shore.''
The attack happened near the Camping on the Gulf Holiday Travel Park, about 45 miles east of Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle.
Patrick O'Neill, the campground's general manager, refused to comment.
Authorities closed about 20 miles of beaches to swimming shortly after the attack. It's the height of the summer tourism season along the coast and the beaches were packed with people.
"It was a bad attack,'' said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File located at University of Florida. "Certainly it was a reasonably large shark.''
Burgess, who was heading to the scene to investigate, said it was the first shark attack of any kind recorded in Walton County.
"It's not a renegade shark looking for humans,'' Burgess said. "Probably it was a one shot deal and it's not likely to attack again.''
Twelve-year-old Robert Goodwin, of St. Louis, Mo., said he was in the gulf during the attack and ordered out of the water. His father, Mark, said the family comes every year and "it was just an eerie feeling to see folks sitting there on the beach'' instead of swimming.
Florida had the largest number of documented shark attacks worldwide in 2003 with 30, according to statistics compiled by the American Elasmobranch Society and the Florida Museum of Natural History. There were 12 attacks off the coast of Florida last year.
06-26-05 14:07 EDT
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.
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Sharks seem to be getting more and more aggressive...
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:00 pm |
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| Quote: | Florida beaches open after shark attack
14-year-old girl killed offshore in the Florida Panhandle
Sunday, June 26, 2005; Posted: 6:46 p.m. EDT (22:46 GMT)
Jamie Marie Daigle died Saturday after being attacked by a shark near Destin, Florida.
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Jamie Daigle, of Gonzales, Louisiana, and her friend Felicia Venable, also 14, were swimming Saturday morning about 200 yards offshore in the Gulf of Mexico when they saw a dark shadow in the water, according to a statement issued Sunday by the Walton County Sheriff's Office.
Daigle was severely bitten, with bites on "the lower portions of her body," the statement said.
Police said Venable began heading for shore to get help from relatives when she saw her friend had been bitten and was being pulled under.
The attack happened at about 11:15 a.m. in front of a campground near the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in the Florida Panhandle between Pensacola and Panama City, eight miles east of Destin.
Emergency personnel were on the scene quickly and attempted to save Daigle, but she died as a result of her wounds, authorities said.
Both girls were using boogie boards, said Lt. Frank Owens of the Walton County Sheriff's Office.
"For a regular swimmer, she was pretty far out," Capt. Danny Glidewell of the sheriff's office said. Usually, only surfers go that far out in the water, he said.
Once swimmers pass the first sandbar and drop-off, "you will experience more sightings of sharks," he said, although the area has never before had a shark attack.
A shark also was spotted in area waters Sunday, closer to shore than where Saturday's attack occurred.
Daigle's family was back in Gonzales, about 60 miles west of New Orleans. Their priest, Father Gary Belsome, said he met with her relatives early Sunday.
"They're doing well," Belsome said. "They're surrounded by friends and family. People are pulling together."
Center of the 'blood pool'
Tim Dicus was surfing near the girls Saturday when he heard a scream.
"I was about 200 yards out, just past the second sandbar," Dicus said. "And when I heard the scream, I turned around and saw one of the girls swimming towards the beach frantically and the other one had disappeared and there was a big dark spot where she used to be in the water."
"She was unconscious when I got to the blood pool," Dicus said.
"So I tried to pull her from the water -- the shark had made an attack when I was trying to get her out of the water. But it gave me enough time to get her on to the board once he had to come back around to make another attack."
Dicus said the shark -- about 8 feet long -- continued to try to attack them on his surfboard as he made his way to shore.
"He was really aggressive," Dicus said. "I've been here a long time and I've never seen a shark get that aggressive."
"She was hurt really bad. It looked like she was going to at least lose her leg," Dicus said.
"The damage on her left leg was really extensive, and I didn't know whether she had just gone into shock -- but she'd pretty much stopped bleeding by the time I got her on to the beach -- so I didn't know how we were going to save her."
Dicus said he had warned other swimmers earlier in the day against going out too far, fearing shark attacks.
Although shark sightings are not uncommon along the coast, no one had seen a shark in the area Saturday before the attack, Owens said.
The area was under green flags, meaning calm surf, Glidewell said. Authorities did not know the kind of shark that attacked the girl.
Deaths from unprovoked shark attacks are rare, according to statistics compiled by the International Shark Attack File.
Seven people were killed in shark attacks worldwide in 2004, including two in the United States. California and Hawaii each recorded one shark attack death last year.
There were 12 shark attacks on Florida beaches in 2004, down sharply from 30 in 2003. Experts credit the busy hurricane season in 2004 for the lower numbers.
Shark scientist Dr. Erich Ritter said he would attend the girl's autopsy Monday morning in Pensacola.
Ritter, who describes himself as a shark behaviorist, said an examination of her wounds would reveal the shark's size, species and likely motivation.
Ritter said it is possible the girl was attacked because she got in the shark's way as it headed toward a meal.
The shark also could have mistaken splashing by the girls as activity by fish, he said. The wounds could show which it was, Ritter said.
CNN's Drew Griffin contributed to this report.
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This story tells what happened to both girls.
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Joey
Rear Admiral
Joined: 13 Jul 2001
Posts: 4708
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| Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:55 pm |
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actually shark attacks are really rare
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:07 pm |
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| harrykim234 wrote: | | actually shark attacks are really rare |
Yeah, since both articles mentioned that fact... But, if you'd read them both, you'd also have seen the jump in numbers.
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Joey
Rear Admiral
Joined: 13 Jul 2001
Posts: 4708
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| Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:21 pm |
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pointing out that for others who skim read
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:28 pm |
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| harrykim234 wrote: | | pointing out that for others who skim read |
Mmmhmmm...
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Joey
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| Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:29 pm |
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nadia
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Location: Australia
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| Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:43 am |
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Sharks are horrible and mean animals!
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Founder
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Joined: 21 Jun 2004
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Location: Gamma Quadrant
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| Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:59 am |
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| nadia wrote: | | Sharks are horrible and mean animals! |
What are you talking about? They aren't "mean". Its just nature.
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nadia
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Joined: 08 Apr 2005
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| Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:26 am |
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| Founder wrote: | | nadia wrote: | | Sharks are horrible and mean animals! |
What are you talking about? They aren't "mean". Its just nature. |
They could be nice and just eat fish!!
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Captain Dappet
Forum Revolutionist
Joined: 06 Feb 2002
Posts: 16756
Location: On my supersonic rocket ship.
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| Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:24 am |
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Why should they do that? Besides, they're predators, we're...Hum...What are we? Both prey and predator, I guess.
Anyhow, they usually don't kill humans, as it says in the articles. Usually they take a bite, and go away. Terrifying, yes, but thats what they do, or so I've heard.
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madlilnerd
Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5885
Location: Slough, England
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| Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:28 am |
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And my Dad wondered why i wouldn't go in the sea when we went to Miami 
Most shark attacks are thought to be a case of mistaken identity, where the shark was actually looking for a seal to eat but got a human by mistake.
I think the attacks are rising because the waters are getting warmer, which means more sharks are breeding.
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webtaz99
Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
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| Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:40 am |
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The shark attack rate is fairly steady. What changes is the media attention they get. The famous example was 2003, which had the same number of attacks as 2002, yet was labled by the media as "the year of shark attacks".
Sharks (especially ones big enough to attack humans) are apex predators. That means they pick and chose their victims. They would much rather eat something with a higher fat ratio than a human, but they haven't had enough experience to learn that we are bony & scrawny (compared to seals, etc).
Scientists are now developing devices which really do keep sharks at bay using electric fields. When these are in common use by divers, surfers and routine swimmers, sharks may begin to associate humans with a unpleasant stimulus and learn to avoid us.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:10 am |
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| Quote: |
Teenage Boy Bitten by Shark in Florida
Second Attack Comes Three Days After Girl Was Killed
By BILL KACZOR, AP
The twin attacks prompted authorities to hand out safety literature about sharks.
CAPE SAN BLAS, Fla. (June 28 ) -- A 16-year-old boy who lost a leg following the second shark attack in three days along the Florida Panhandle was in critical condition Tuesday and doctors were hoping he hadn't suffered any brain damage from the blood loss.
Craig Adam Hutto, of Lebanon, Tenn., survived the attack Monday but his leg was amputated.
Dr. Reed Finne, a cardiovascular surgeon at Bay Medical Center in Panama City, said Tuesday Craig's leg suffered irreparable damage to blood vessels and nerves between the hip and knee, as well as to most of the surrounding muscle.
Finne said it was too soon to tell if Craig suffered any brain damage from blood loss. In 2001, a 9-year-old Mississippi boy, Jesse Arbogast, suffered severe brain damage from blood loss when a shark tore off his arm as he swam near Pensacola.
''We're hopeful. He's young, he's healthy. He should be OK, but he's still sick,'' Finne said of Hutto.
Hutto was fishing in waist-deep water about 60 feet from shore with his brother and a friend on Monday when the shark grabbed him in the right thigh, nearly severing the leg, said Capt. Bobby Plair of the Gulf County Sheriff's Office.
Three days before the attack on Hutto and about 80 miles away near Destin, 14-year-old Jamie Marie Daigle died from her injuries after her leg was mutilated by a bull shark.
The attack on Hutto was witnessed by Karen Eaker, 42, of Horn Lake, Miss.
''Within five seconds it was obvious there was something wrong,'' Eaker said. ''We had heard the word 'shark' and then we saw the red water and the tug-of-war going on between the brother and the shark.''
Nearby, Bill Pascoe, 37, of Jacksonville, was scooping up shells with his 5-year-old son when they heard a commotion. As he got closer, he saw blood in the water.
''One man jumped in and kind of looked like he had it in a head lock and was punching it on the head to get him to let loose,'' Pascoe said.
A doctor who happened to be nearby began treatment once the teen was ashore. He was then taken to Panama City's Bay Medical Center, where the leg was amputated. Craig's family members, including the brother who was with him in the surf, declined comment at the hospital.
Gulf County's Board of County Commissioners issued a mandatory closure for beaches in the county until midday Tuesday. Destin-area beaches reopened Sunday.
The number of shark attacks rise in the summer because the animals come closer to shore to search for food, said John Tyminski, a senior biologist with the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota.
''I don't think there is any reason to come to a conclusion that this is strange,'' Tyminski said of the two recent attacks.
Daigle, of Gonzales, La., had been had been swimming with a friend about 100 yards from shore in neighboring Walton County when a shark bit her in the leg. Paramedics and an air ambulance crew were unable to revive her.
Florida averaged more than 30 attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but had only 12 last year, said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He attributed the drop to the four hurricanes that hit Florida last year, keeping residents and visitors away from beaches.
06-28-05 0833 EDT
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
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nadia
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| Tue Jun 28, 2005 6:54 pm |
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Thats horrible! Can we kill all the shark?
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Founder
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| Tue Jun 28, 2005 6:58 pm |
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| nadia wrote: | | Thats horrible! Can we kill all the shark? |
How many times do I have to tell you? Sharks don't do it out of hatred or anger. Good Lord, its just nature. Its sad what happens, but...*Sigh* never mind...
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nadia
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| Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:06 pm |
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| Founder wrote: | | nadia wrote: | | Thats horrible! Can we kill all the shark? |
How many times do I have to tell you? Sharks don't do it out of hatred or anger. Good Lord, its just nature. Its sad what happens, but...*Sigh* never mind... |
I know that they dont do it out of hatred or anger!
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Theresa
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| Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:09 pm |
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I was watching some program on the Discovery Channel, I think it was a marathon, really, about shark attacks. They had one about a shark who swam up a fresh water river and killed several people. Creeped me out sufficiently.
But yeah, they aren't targeting people just to kill.
Last edited by Theresa on Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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webtaz99
Commodore
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| Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:11 pm |
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| nadia wrote: | | Thats horrible! Can we kill all the shark? |
If you had a descent grasp of reality you would know we're pretty close.
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The Delta Flyer
Commodore
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Location: East Yorkshire
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| Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:43 pm |
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| nadia wrote: | | Thats horrible! Can we kill all the shark? |
I imagine that's what all the pigs, cows and all the other animals we eat think about us.
I read somewhere that sharks patterns of movement are changing, appearing closer to shores, etc. because of increasing water temperatures (ie. global warming)
Supposedly last year there was a risk of sharks being sighted in the North Sea off the coast of England. Supposedly there have been corpses of animals such as seals washed up. No actual sharks have been sighted as far as I know but experts claim sharks to be they only thing capable of leaving the bodies in such a state. I remember I was on the beach once and there was a seal which had literally been torn in half with only the top half remaining. It was quite a creepy sight.
I think it's wrong to say sharks are 'horrible' or 'mean'. I think they are surely scary but should be respected for the immensely powerful predators that they are. Having said that I would love to see them in the wild. As long as I was in a safe position of course...
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Jeremy
J's Guy
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Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Wed Jun 29, 2005 5:38 am |
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| nadia wrote: | | Thats horrible! Can we kill all the shark? |
At least they don't go round trying to exteriminate their own species like a certain species I know.
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AndrewBullock
The Misguided One
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
Posts: 2112
Location: Kentucky. (North America)
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| Wed Jun 29, 2005 5:58 am |
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We're okay for humans. It's our nature to feel emotions or what ever. It's a shark's nature to swim.
Sharks only know basic things. Swimming, eating, communication etc. Plus, a male shark doesn't go to another male shark's shelter and fight 'em because he slept with his woman or something
Now speaking in a weird manor. lol.. if you were to put a sharks brain inside a human (just bare with me for a moment) do you think it could adapt to certain things? When we were little we adapted to eating and sleeping and enviornments around us. Say science was greater at this point and found a 'magical' way to figure out how to hook up a shark's brain to all the functions of a human. Do you think it could learn how to move it's hand? How to move it's body? How to cry? Adaptability is common among... everything. I have no idea where i'm getting this from. lol!
But I'm really sorry to hear about the girl. I can't imagine what it's like to be attacked by a shark. Thats not a very pleasent way to die.
My prayers are with her family and friends.
~Andrew
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webtaz99
Commodore
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| Wed Jun 29, 2005 10:35 am |
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| Jeremy wrote: | | nadia wrote: | | Thats horrible! Can we kill all the shark? |
At least they don't go round trying to exteriminate their own species like a certain species I know. |
What species is that?
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"History is made at night! Character is who you are in the dark." (Lord John Whorfin)
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The Delta Flyer
Commodore
Joined: 08 Apr 2002
Posts: 2163
Location: East Yorkshire
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| Wed Jun 29, 2005 10:46 am |
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Must be hamsters 
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:35 pm |
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Could be, Or humans,
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