Updated June 17.
Three people were bitten by sharks in Florida, while a 10-year-old is recovering from a shark attack in Australia.
Jai Villamilis, 12, was standing in waist-deep water off New Symrna Beach, Florida after getting off his surfboard June 15, when he was bitten on the right calf by a shark. He was treated on scene before being taken to Halifax Health Medical Center as a trauma alert. He was transported to the hospital where he needed a 6-hour surgery to repair most of his tendons and his Achilles heal.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help assist with medical bills.
The same day and at the same beach, a 71-year-old was bitten on the right foot while boogieboaridng in knee-deep water. The man was treated by Beach Safety and released.
A 13-year-old girl was enjoying shallow waters off Fernandina Beach, Florida June 13, playing in water about 2-feet deep in a slough between a sandbar and the beach. Around 2:20 p.m. a shark bit her right foot. Despite the injury, she made it out of the water and was treated by lifeguards.
Emergency personnel responded to Seaside Park near Beach Access #20 and administered aid. The Fernandina Beach Fire Department reported the girl had minor lacerations to her right ankle and foot. Her non-life-threatening injury was treated at Baptist Medical Center Nassau.
Double-red flags were raised after the event and lowered two hours later. Lifeguards advise swimmers to avoid sloughs and the edge of sandbars where sharks can congregate and feed.
Two others were bitten by sharks in state.
On May 6 in Daytona Beach Shores, a 21-year old woman on vacation from Oregon was standing in four feet of water when she was bitten on her foot. Although she did not see the shark, officials described her non-life-threatening injuries as consistent with a shark bite.
Less than a week earlier on April 30, Adrienne Wikso, 64, had been sitting on a paddleboard at New Smyrna Beach when she also suffered non-life-threatening injuries from a shark bite. However, the New Smyrna Beach resident thought the incident was anything but routine.
10-year-old bitten on the foot by a shark in Western Australia.
Jackson Bartlett was snorkeling with his father on Five Fingers Reef, near Coral Bay June 11 when he was bitten by a nearly 7-foot-long (2m) shark.
Bartlett had snorkeled with whale sharks a few days before and spotted a dugong, which is a cousin of the manatee. When he saw a shadow pass him on this day, he thought it might be another dugong, but then it picked up speed and got closer.
“And then I thought it might have been a reefy (reef shark), but then it tried to bite me,” he told the Geelong Advertiser.
The shark bit, but missed the boy’s leg, and then returned.
“It bit my flipper off and then bit me again and bit my other flipper off and got my leg,” he said.
He called to his dad and showed him his injury. His father began the long 82-yard (75m) swim back to shore with his son in tow. Several off-duty doctors on the beach began to administer first-aid.
Bartlett’s foot was sliced from the ankle to the toe and he was transported by plane to Perth Children’s Hospital by the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
When he is released from the hospital he will be staying with his grandmother until he is able to rejoin his family and continue their 9-month holiday in Western Australia.
The event will not keep the child from the water. “I reckon I’ll start (swimming again) from deep pools and go in the shallow water at the beaches . . . and then go back surfing.
“I just love the ocean; I still like sharks but I just don’t want to swim too close to big ones like that.”
All locations have been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack Map.
