XPost: talk.politics.guns, aus.politics, sac.politics

A woman was attacked by a shark after getting blown about 650
feet out to sea on a rubber ring, with the predator knocking her
from the float as onlookers watched on in horror.

The attack happened on February 6 near to the town of Esperance
in south-west Australia, close to the scene of two previous
fatal shark attacks.

A witness described seeing a trail of blood in the water as the
woman swam towards shore holding her side.

Australia leads the world in the number of fatal shark attacks
on humans. Several species of larger shark inhabit the waters
surrounding the country including great whites, tiger sharks and
bull sharks, the bites from which are more likely to be severe.

Though the species of shark involved was not confirmed, a 10.8-
foot great white was reported in the area shortly after the
attack. A video posted to Facebook and YouTube by wildlife
channel Riggs Australia claimed to show a shark swimming close
to the area.

Barry Brown was at the beach when the attack happened and
rescued the woman. He told ABC News he was about 60 feet from
the shore when he reached her and carried her to the beach. He
said he had seen her drifting further out to sea for about half
an hour before the shark struck.

"She just seemed to be getting deeper and deeper and deeper ...
"Then it knocked her off. We could see the shark's tail come out
of the water and into the air," Brown told the broadcaster. "The
shark actually circled the [pool ring] a couple of times and
then took back off into the blue."

He helped take the woman by car to a hospital where she is now
recovering.

The Australian Government's Shark Smart website said that
beaches in the area where to attack took place were closed on
Monday following patrols by Fisheries officers from the
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Authorities said they had recovered a "pool ring" in the area
after responding to news of the attack. Western Australia's
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development Shark
Response Unit are investigating the attack and have closed all
beaches in the area.

Two fatal sharks attacks have taken place in Wylie Bay in recent
years. In October 2020, a surfer named Andrew Sharpe died after
a shark near Esperance. A 17-year-old surfer named Laeticia
Maree Brouwer died after a shark attack in the area in April
2017.

The number of shark attacks rose sharply in 2021, according to
the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File. It
showed there were 12 cases of unprovoked shark bites on humans
in Australia in 2021. Three of them were fatal, more than any
other country.

"Australia has more fatalities because there are a lot of white
sharks down there, near the surface, feeding on seals," Gavin
Naylor, the director of the Florida Program for Shark Research,
previously told Newsweek. "And people there are all out surfing
... and when a large white shark bites you on the leg in can
sever your femoral artery and often can be fatal unless you get
attention really quickly."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/woman-gets-attacked-by- shark-after-drifting-650-feet-from-shore-on-pool-ring/ar- AATzfe8?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

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