A teen is recovering after a rare shark bite in Walton County, near Seaside, Florida.
The unidentified 14-year-old was in the area of Grayton Beach State Park on June 17. Just before 2:30 p.m the teen was swimming about 40-yards off the beach, reportedly near the second sand bar, when, for unknown reasons, the teen swam toward a baited fishing line and was bitten by a shark.
Once the teen made it back to shore, lifeguard’s from Tower 22 administered first-aid until first responders from the South Walton Fire District (SWFD) arrived.
SWFD personnel treated superficial wounds to the patients upper body and chest area, from what witness describe as a 7- to 8-foot shark, before transporting the teen to the hospital in stable condition.
“It seems the shark did not latch on once figuring out it was biting a human,” the Walton County Sheriff’s office said in a statement. Adding that they were not sharing the information to create fear or panic. “Sharks live in the water. That is their home. We’re making the public aware so that they may use caution when swimming in the water…where sharks live..near the site.”
The department stressed that the wounds are not life-threatening and an officer has made contact with the family who agree the incident was a case of miss-identification by the shark.
Lifeguards raised double red flags to warn swimmers from entering the water and a drone was launched, but no sharks were spotted.
Shark attacks in the Gulf are rare, but do occasional happen.
Just last year another teen was bitten by a shark in Orange Beach, Alabama, which is about 2-hours (135 miles) to the west of Grayton State Beach Park.
Maximus Chilton, his father Chilly and brother Chase, swam out to the first sand bar July 31, to look for shells and play on the shallow sand bar.
As the group made plans to come back the following day with masks, the waves started filling up with 2- to 3-foot long fish.
Chilly said that they got an odd feeling and decided to swim back to shore. With Max in the lead the trio started back to the beach. A few seconds later, Max said something grabbed his foot.
Thinking quickly Chilly stepped behind his son and saw a large shark swimming away. Chilly, who has been mentoring teenagers for the last 30 years, comforted his son and told him he was good and to head back in. During the swim Chilly swam behind his children in case the 4- to 5-foot shark came back.
Max was taken to South Baldwin Medical Center by ambulance where he received more than 25 stitches.
A white shark, which would most likely never be a threat to any gulf beach visitor, was caught off Pensacola Beach in March of this year, while another one was filmed about 25 miles off Orange Beach by divers May 23, 2020.
The approximate locations have been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack Map.
