Pacific Grove paddleboarder, dog escape injury in scary shark encounter
PACIFIC GROVE — A California paddleboarder and his dog were thrown into the ocean when a shark bit the board but both survived the encounter without injuries, authorities said.
The Wednesday morning attack occurred about 150 yards from Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove at the south end of Monterey Bay, the same waters where a swimmer was seriously injured by a great white shark in June.
In Wednesday’s incident, the shark swam under the paddleboard, then turned and bit the board, Pacific Grove police said.
“They were able to get back on the board and paddle to shore, uninjured,” police said in a news release.
The paddleboard will be tested to determine the shark species, police said.
The stretch of coast starting at the Sea Palm turnout will be closed until Aug. 13 because of the attack, authorities said.
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In June, a swimmer was severely bitten before being rescued by two paddleboarders and spent three weeks in a hospital.
Steve Bruemmer, 62, was released from Natividad Medical Center in Salinas after undergoing three weeks of hospital care and rehabilitation after a shark bit him as he swam off Pacific Grove near Monterey.
In an emotional video before he was wheeled out to applause and cheers from hospital workers lining the pathway, Bruemmer said from his hospital bed that the shark bit him across his thighs and abdomen and then “it spit me out.”
The shark in that attack came within a millimeter of severing a major artery, Nicholas Rottler, a trauma surgeon at the medical center, said.
Shark attacks in California are rare. However, Tomas Butterfield, 42, of Sacramento was killed in a shark attack in Morro Bay in Central California last Christmas Eve.
It was the only unprovoked fatal shark attack in the United States last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: California beach closed after paddleboarder, dog attacked by shark
