Saturday, August 13, 2011

Man Bitten by Shark off NC Coast

According to various media outlets, including North Carolina's WITN-7, a 54 year-old South Carolina man, was bitten by a shark about 13 miles off the coast of Morehead City, NC.  Donnie WHite was on a fishing boat and had entered the water to cool off when he was bitten on the lower leg, according to reports.  He was taken to Carteret General Hospital.  While White's injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, his condition has not been released.

North Carolina has a history of shark attacks occurring, starting with the first recorded attack in 1935 in Onslow County.  Onslow County ties for second for the most number of sharks attacks, with the number of shark attacks being 8 with 1 being a fatality in 1935.  The county Onslow ties with is Carteret, that also had one fatality in 1957.

Who wins the number one spot?? New Hanover wins with a whooping 9 attacks, but 0 of them being fatal.  Nine seems like a fairly large number, but when we stop to consider that North Carolina starting reporting shark attacks back in 1935 that is only 9 attacks in 76 years, which is just a little over 1 attack for every decade or 1 attack for every 3,082 days.  If you are a gambling person, then you will quickly see that the odds are against you getting bit by a shark, even when swimming in the highest shark attack county of North Carolina.

Overall, North Carolina has reported 41 shark attacks since 1935, with the last fatality being in 2001 in Dare county.

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