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Great white shark attacks US surfer in New Jersey
Times of Oman ^ | June 9, 2005

Posted on 06/09/2005 11:48:19 PM PDT by Mongeaux

EW YORK –– A teen surfer in New Jersey needed 60 stitches after being bitten by a great white shark in the state's first recorded shark attack in 30 years.

In interviews with local press Thursday, Ryan Horton, 17, said he had been surfing off New Jersey's Surf City on Sunday when he felt a stabbing pain in his right foot that he likened to being hit with a baseball bat.

When he lifted his leg out of the water, he found a deep gash just above his ankle and a smaller wound on the other side of his leg.

A friend took him to hospital where the wound was closed with 60 stitches.

Horton initially had no idea what had happened, until his doctor suggested a shark attack as a possible cause.

Horton's father then e-mailed a photo of the wound to George Burgess, curator of the Florida-based International Shark Attack File, who concluded that the wound was caused by a juvenile great white shark, probably about six-feet (1.8 meters) in length.

The attack was subsequently recorded as the first in New Jersey waters in three decades -- a frequency level embraced by Surf City surfers.

"I have a better chance of getting hit by lightning," Mark Travers, 20, told the Newark Star Ledger. "You can't live your life scared." –– AFP


TOPICS: Local News; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: greatwhiteshark; newjersey; shark; sharkattack
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:) they are everywhere folks. Saturday a spearfisherman off south africa was swallowed whole by a 20 footer. 4000 pounds+. His buddy speared it and monday it was seen by a group of wreck divers still towing his bait float and the remnants of a trigger mechanism. The water went dark, they looked up to see it hovering over them "as big as a boxcar". But nobody can hunt it down because killing Great Whites is illegal in "Sarth Effrica".
1 posted on 06/09/2005 11:48:19 PM PDT by Mongeaux
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To: Mongeaux

Freakin' scary animals. Hope I never have the opportunity to meet one of these.

On the positive side, they do eat those damn pinnipeds. That's at least one good thing they do.


2 posted on 06/09/2005 11:59:51 PM PDT by DuckFan4ever (Liberals lie)
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To: Mongeaux; aculeus; dighton; Lijahsbubbe; Jeremiah Jr; Squantos
In interviews with local press Thursday, Ryan Horton...


3 posted on 06/10/2005 12:00:40 AM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
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To: Mongeaux
["I have a better chance of getting hit by lightning," Mark Travers, 20, told the Newark Star Ledger. "You can't live your life scared."]


That's the spirit!

Maybe his new hobby could be tree climbing during thunderstorms.

:^)
4 posted on 06/10/2005 12:04:41 AM PDT by spinestein ("I'm not a wise person but I play one on TV." --Any Hollywood actor who told us to vote for Kerry)
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To: DuckFan4ever

Yeah

Dang seals have been scarfing salmon left and right at the locks and under the Sellwood, out neear the Clackamas river below the falls...

A.A.C.


5 posted on 06/10/2005 12:04:50 AM PDT by AmericanArchConservative (Armour on, Lances high, Swords out, Bows drawn, Shields front ... Eagles UP!)
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To: Mongeaux

One of the big news stories right before 9-11 was shark attacks in Florida.

BTW, Breaking News? This happened last Sunday. It's been in all the papers.


6 posted on 06/10/2005 12:04:59 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: leadpenny

It's new to me. All the real GWS action has been in South Africa where people are being eaten.


7 posted on 06/10/2005 12:09:05 AM PDT by Mongeaux
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To: Mongeaux

Whatever. You would have found your story already posted if you had searched, "shark."


8 posted on 06/10/2005 12:13:16 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: spinestein

spinestein wrote:
["I have a better chance of getting hit by lightning," Mark Travers, 20, told the Newark Star Ledger. "You can't live your life scared."]


That's the spirit!

spinestein wrote:
((Maybe his new hobby could be tree climbing during thunderstorms.))

--> I was thinking this surfer may as well start playing russian roulette. To me, swimming in the ocean around sharks is like pointing a gun @yourself with faulty bullets in the barrels, eventually, one is going to go off.


9 posted on 06/10/2005 12:13:37 AM PDT by 1FASTGLOCK45 (FreeRepublic: More fun than watching Dem'Rats drown like Turkeys in the rain! ! !)
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To: Mongeaux


10 posted on 06/10/2005 12:13:59 AM PDT by ppaul
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To: AmericanArchConservative

How do you fight off a great white shark? Hit it in the snout with your fists. If that doesn't work, hit it with your stumps.


11 posted on 06/10/2005 12:20:21 AM PDT by DuckFan4ever (Liberals lie)
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To: ppaul

Hey you forgot to give him a nose job before you posted his pic. LOL


12 posted on 06/10/2005 12:22:49 AM PDT by 1FASTGLOCK45 (FreeRepublic: More fun than watching Dem'Rats drown like Turkeys in the rain! ! !)
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To: Mongeaux

GWS attacks around the U.S. coasts don't equal South African standards. The worst single GWS episode in American history was in 1916 off the New Jersey coast and that was the series of attacks that the first "Jaws" movie (1975) was based on. And it was caused by just one rogue GWS that apparently got ambitious.


13 posted on 06/10/2005 12:23:34 AM PDT by xJones (M)
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To: leadpenny

yes you are right, my apologies


14 posted on 06/10/2005 12:24:54 AM PDT by Mongeaux
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To: Mongeaux

I work nights so I am behind the curve.


15 posted on 06/10/2005 12:32:28 AM PDT by Mongeaux
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To: leadpenny

The post I found was dated Thursday, and it's 3 hours after midnight. Sorry.


16 posted on 06/10/2005 12:37:29 AM PDT by Mongeaux
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To: Mongeaux

I think I hooked one of these fellows out at Lake Thompson. He got away.


17 posted on 06/10/2005 1:23:41 AM PDT by SoDak (I'm just having one of those life's)
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To: Mongeaux

18 posted on 06/10/2005 2:27:01 AM PDT by jsh3180
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To: Mongeaux

This is why I dont swim in the ocean..I do not want to be swimming with something that is higher on the food chain than me!! :o)


19 posted on 06/10/2005 4:34:25 AM PDT by motormouth
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To: DuckFan4ever
How do you fight off a great white shark? Hit it in the snout with your fists. If that doesn't work, hit it with your stumps.

....and for you SCUBA divers out there, you just draw you dive knife, stab your partner, and swim off...

20 posted on 06/10/2005 6:20:09 AM PDT by Tallguy
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