Shark Attack Death In Australia: Surfer Has Part Of Leg Bitten Off [Photo]

A shark attack death in Australia has officials saying a surfer was found floating in the water. The victim later died after an attempt to resuscitate him. Reports says a shark had bitten off part of his leg, and some speculate it may have been a great white shark, a tiger shark, or a bull shark although New South Wales (NSW) government officials have not yet made a final determination.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, a shark attack in Alabama had a fisherman defending himself with his fishing rod in order to save his leg. Two great white shark attack victims were traumatized by the way their kayak was bitten and they were dumped in the water, but after they were safe on dry land they found themselves being hounded by the media. A new study shows that shark attacks in Australia target men nine times more often than women.

Shortly after the Australian shark attack occurred, the NSW police department released this statement.

“Emergency Services are responding to a possible shark attack at Byron Bay this morning. About 10.45am (Tuesday 9 September 2014) a man was dragged from the water suffering a significant injury to his leg. Police are speaking to a number of people at Main Beach to try to determine the identity of the man, believed to be in his 30s.”

A NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said a responding doctor attempted to perform CPR on the man but could not revive him. The man was pronounced dead on the beach and police say “he was bitten on the right leg by what it believed to be a shark.” Bystanders say they dragged the surfer onto the beach and it’s claimed part of his leg was missing and was floating in the surf.

Surf Life Saving NSW spokeswoman Donna Wishart said Byron Bay beaches would be closing in the short term and that the beach was not being supervised by lifeguards at the time of the shark attack.

“We’ve got our life guard service on its way and our life guard supervisor is on his way and they’ll be instituting a full beach closure, that whole headland area,” Wishart said. “We’re going to put guard on for today and tomorrow because it’s normal operating procedure to close the beach for at least 24 hours. We’ll be doing some surveillance work and we’ll monitor the waterways to determine whether there’s an ongoing hazard.”

The number of shark attack deaths in Australia had the government working on a shark tagging system that uses satellite systems, and this program already became renowned when they caught and tagged a great white shark nicknamed Joan of Shark. They have also given $300,000 to a company called SharkShield that is working on an electronic deterrent for sharks.

But the most controversial measure has been a shark culling program that used bait lines attached to floating drums in order to catch sharks. Conservationists were outraged by the fact that “172 sharks were caught in addition to other animals like stingrays,” yet “70 percent of the creatures caught were not large enough to be a threat” even though it was believed great white sharks were responsible for the deaths.

A man in his 40s has died after being attacked by a shark at Clarkes Beach, Byron Bay. Here’ a photo of the scene pic.twitter.com/BuN2u7d9gr

— ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) September 9, 2014