Two swimmers bitten at shark ‘breeding ground’ in one day, Florida officials say
Two people were bitten by sharks at the same Florida beach on Labor Day, officials say.
A 37-year-old woman and a man in his 30s sustained non-life-threatening injuries after being bitten Sept. 4, according to Volusia County Beach Safety.
The woman from Apopka, Florida, was in waist-deep water when a shark bit her right foot, Volusia officials said in a news release shared with McClatchy News. She was taken to a hospital by Volusia Emergency Medical Services. She told officials she didn’t see the shark that bit her.
The man was bitten on his left hand when he was surfing and drove himself to the hospital, according to Volusia County Beach Rescue.
Both were in the waters of Ponce Inlet, officials said.
‘Breeding ground’
Volusia County has recorded the most shark attacks of anywhere in the world, according to the International Shark Attack File, maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Florida has logged the most unprovoked shark attacks in the U.S. at 912. More than a third of those were in Volusia County, located along Florida’s east coast just north of Orlando. The county has seen 343 bites since 1882, according to the data.
Volusia County Beach Safety Captain A.J. Miller attributed the cause of so many bites to a nearby area where young sharks live.
“There’s a large nursery down in the inlet,” he told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
He called the area a “breeding ground.” He added that the two Labor Day bites bring this year’s total up to six in Volusia County.
In 2022, the county recorded seven the whole year, according to a report from the International Shark Attack File.
Miller said usually sharks are looking for bait fish and aren’t trying to attack humans, so if they do bite someone, they often just grab and release.
“That’s why we call them shark bites instead of shark attacks,” Miller said.
More shark bites occur in September than any other month in Florida, according to the database.
Where sharks attack
The odds of getting bitten by a shark are fairly slim, experts say, although they are higher in Volusia County than other places.
“The total number of unprovoked shark bites worldwide is extremely low, given the number of people participating in aquatic recreation each year,” the Florida National History Museum wrote in its 2022 report. “Fatality rates have been declining for decades, reflecting advances in beach safety, medical treatment and public awareness.”
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