shark attack killed a teen on Saturday!

[BFofAKournikova]

I didn't hear about this until yesterday. Apparently, all the beaches in my area were closed Saturday due to this!

Shark kills US teen in Florida beach

A 14-year-old girl was bitten to death by a shark as she swam with a friend off a northwestern Florida beach, authorities said.

Jamie Marie Daigle and her friend, Felicia Venable, also 14, were about 200 yards (180 meters) off shore on Saturday when they saw a "dark shadow" in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Walton County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Venable swam to shore to call for help after she saw Daigle being pulled underwater and saw she had been bitten, the statement said.

Jack Timothy Dicus heard the calls for help, swam to the girl and saw her lying face down in the water and unconscious. He put her on his surfboard to float her back to shore.

The shark tried to attack the girl repeatedly as Dicus brought her back to shore, but Dicus was able to strike its nose and continue toward the beach, authorities said.

Rescuers tried to save Daigle, but the Gonzalez, Louisiana girl, who was bitten on the lower part of her body, died of her wounds.

Shark attacks are extremely rare, with just 61 unprovoked shark attacks in 2003, including seven deaths: two in Australia; two in the United States; and one each in Brazil, Egypt and South Africa, according to the International Shark Attack Files.

Attacks have been on the rise since the beginning of the 20th century as more and more people swim, surf and sail. Attacks peaked in 1990, with 481 over 10 years, according to the group, which keeps the worldwide statistics.

PICTURE CAPTION: People returned to the beach in Destin, Fla., Sunday, June 26, 2005, one day after a shark killed a 14-year-old Louisiana girl. Extra lifeguards staffed by the sheriff's beach patrol officers were added along the Florida Panhandle coast. According to statistics compiled by the American Elasmobranch Society and the Florida Museum of Natural History, Florida averaged more than 30 shark attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but there were only 12 attacks off the state's coast last year.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050627/ts_alt_afp/ussharkattack_050627125245

[BFofAKournikova]

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Chris White was vacationing on a Florida Panhandle beach when he heard cries for help and leaped into the water to assist a 14-year-old girl, not knowing she had been fatally injured by a shark and he would soon be swimming with the killer animal.

"I saw an empty boogie board, no rider," said White, 23. "At first I thought she had maybe drowned or gone under."

But Jamie Marie Daigle, who had been swimming with a friend about 100 yards from shore, had been bit in the leg by a shark. The flesh had been torn on one leg from her hip to her knee, exposing her bone.

Swimming out to the bloody scene, White passed Daigle's friend, 14-year-old Felicia Venable, who was swimming frantically back to shore.

"She couldn't tell me anything," said the state health inspector and volunteer firefighter from Carrollton, Ga., who recently completed EMT training. "She was pretty hysterical."

When White and another man with a raft reached Daigle, surfer Tim Dicus had already put the unconscious girl on his board.

"He was yelling `There's a shark, there's a shark!'" White said. "He was looking for the shark, I grabbed her, pulled her up into the raft."

The shark returned as the trio pulled the girl to shore.

"Tim hollered `He's here, he's here! There's the shark!'" White said. "Immediately, I looked down and he was swimming at my feet. We stopped swimming, just went limp vertical in the water, just dangled my legs, tried not to look like any kind of food or anything."

White said the surfer distracted the shark. Dicus said he punched it in the nose.

The others continued bringing Daigle to shore, but paramedics were unable to revive her.

An autopsy was planned for Monday, and a shark expert was invited to attend to help determine the type and size of the shark involved, said Walton County sheriff's Capt. Danny Glidewell.

Daigle, of Gonzales, La., had been vacationing with friends while the rest of her family was home.

After the attack Saturday, a 20-mile stretch of shore was closed to swimmers, with twin red flags warning people to stay out of the water, but beaches reopened Sunday with a double staff of sheriff's beach patrol officers, Glidewell said.

A makeshift memorial of painted sand dollars, a boogie board and a magnolia was created on the beach where Daigle was brought to shore. Someone wrote in the sand, "Bless U."

Residents of a condominium complex next to the beach where the girl was attacked said they spotted a shark that looked about 6 feet long Sunday morning.

"It was just right at the shoreline," said Jason Miller, who lives in a 10th-floor condo. He took pictures of the shark chasing fish while people stood in the white surf.

Florida averaged more than 30 shark attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but there were only 12 attacks off the state's coast last year, according to statistics compiled by the American Elasmobranch Society and the Florida Museum of Natural History.

George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at University of Florida, said Sunday that bull sharks are common in the area, are aggressive and can be found in shallow water. He said that of 500 documented attacks in Florida, the fatality rate was 2.4 percent.

"Sharks are one of many hazards that one may encounter when entering the sea," he said. "There is no reason to think that this is the beginning of a trend."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050627/ap_on_re_us/shark_attack_28

[BFofAKournikova]

Surfer Tim Dicus talks Sunday, June 26, 2005, in Destin, Fla., about how he pulled the 14-year-old girl from Louisiana to his surfboard, Saturday, as she was fatally attacked by a shark. Dicus discussed the incident about one mile from where it happened in Destin. Beaches reopened Sunday with double the normal staff of sheriff's beach patrol officers on duty, Walton County sheriff's Capt. Danny Glidewell said.

[BFofAKournikova]

where it happened (which is 20-30 minutes from where I live)

[Richard]

Sad, i heard it here on the news to.....

[Geo]

Sad news, someone so young to die so tragically.......

Take care Jamie, we dont want to lose you.............

Who will post all those great pictures ................

[BFofAKournikova]

damn another shark attack today!

Teen critically injured in second Fla. shark attack

A teenage boy was critically injured Monday in the second shark attack in three days along the Florida Panhandle.

he boy, whose age and name were not released, was taken to Bay Medical Center in Panama City. The nature of his injuries was not immediately released.

He was attacked off Cape San Blas, a popular vacation destination about 80 miles southeast of the Destin area, where 14-year-old Jamie Marie Daigle of Gonzales, La., was killed by a shark on Saturday.

Daigle had been swimming on a boogie board with a friend about 100 yards from shore when a shark tore away the flesh on one leg from her hip to her knee.

Erich Ritter of the Shark Attack Institute said the girl was probably attacked by a 6-foot bull shark, based on measurements of the bite wound. He said it was unlikely the same shark was responsible for Monday's attack.

After Saturday's attack, a 20-mile stretch of shore was closed to swimmers, but beaches reopened Sunday with a double staff of sheriff's beach patrol officers.

Florida averaged more than 30 shark attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but there were only 12 attacks off the state's coast last year, according to figures compiled by the American Elasmobranch Society and the Florida Museum of Natural History.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-06-27-fla-shark_x.htm


picture caption:A bull shark swims off Miramar Beach, Fla. near where a teenage boy was attacked Monday and a 14-year-old girl was killed by a bull shark Saturday. Bull sharks are known for their aggression.

[cd2112]

:( :( :( :( :(
Dont blame the sharks, the right to lifers, do not seem to
understand that we as people, have no more right to life than
the sharks themselves............I hear the morning birds chirping....
Robins..........life.............what a beautiful thing....
:beer :beer :beer almost forgot about beer...
Check out a site called: dailykos.... if you get a chance..
Jamie....and by the way Moscow MI is just up the street from
jonesville...............have a good time...Chris...... southpark

[hawley]

:( :( :( :( :(
Dont blame the sharks, the right to lifers, do not seem to
understand that we as people, have no more right to life than
the sharks themselves............I hear the morning birds chirping....
Robins..........life.............what a beautiful thing....
:beer :beer :beer almost forgot about beer...
Check out a site called: dailykos.... if you get a chance..
Jamie....and by the way Moscow MI is just up the street from
jonesville...............have a good time...Chris...... southpark


pleaseeeeeeee dont say i have the same rights as a frog in life..
we all live by the rights we are given by the powers in covenment (sadly)..
unless you belive in a "God" then i guess you can think we are the same(sadly).. yes sharks have the same right to live, but we have the right to take that sharks life! :)

neway BFIF what a sad post, thanks for making me feel happy.. :rolleyes:

[BFofAKournikova]

update on 2nd attack:

For a second time in three days, vacationers on Florida Panhandle beaches heard screams for help and saw a bloody pool of water as rescuers tried to fight off an attacking shark.

This time the victim, Craig Adam Hutto, 16, of Lebanon, Tenn., survived the attack but his leg was amputated and he remained in critical condition early Tuesday.

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.

Dr. Reed Finne, a cardiovascular surgeon at Bay Medical Center in Panama City, said Tuesday the teen's leg suffered irreparable damage to blood vessels and nerves between the hip and knee, as well as most of the surrounding muscle.

Finne said Craig was expected to survive, but it was too soon to tell if he suffered any brain damage from the 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.

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.

[hawley]

well my Mum always told me "Never swim with sharks your get your leg bitten off"
so i blame the parents!:-)


p.s she also told me "never put your head in a crocodiles mouth" incase ne of you was thinkin about it....

[Richard]

And what did she tell about hugging a bear? ;)

[Geo]

well my Mum always told me "Never swim with sharks your get your leg bitten off"
so i blame the parents!:-)


p.s she also told me "never put your head in a crocodiles mouth" incase ne of you was thinkin about it....


This guy does not heed your mum's advice........................ :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Geo]

this lady thought he can do it, so can I.............................. :crazy :crazy :crazy

[Geo]

lets see what he had for lunch.................... :confused: :confused: :confused:

[hawley]

lol nice pics...

maybe he is tryin to drag the girl out:-)

[BFofAKournikova]

just want to clarify some things on how to avoid these shark attacks:

the girl was swimming 220 meters from the beach! :eek:
no need to go out so far!!


the boy was fishing in waist deep water using chum (animal or vegetable matter, usually chopped fish, thrown overboard to attract fish). Marine biologists use chum to attract sharks! :eek:
don't fish with chum if you are in the water!!


most of the news services failed to report this to sensationalize the attacks inmadwaygf

[ora]

not to make jokes about this serious subject- I NEVER go out swimming without my lifeguard!!

[hawley]

you can take my bodygards if u like? :)

[ora]

THX Hawl- but I heard they got caught already??? hehe...

[Ishban]

I am just guessing here, but could it be human arm that he will have for lunch :crazy

[NUTZO99]

um..who cares...my skin cells die everyday..but nobody tells me that they care...do you know how much money it costs everyday to buy these coffins and flowers..pfffit..sorry i quiefed

[Ishban]

Let me guess Nutz your wife again?