INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Florida Shark Attack: UCF Student Punches Attacking Blacktip

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 05:59 PST, May 11, 2015

A Florida college student warded off an attacking shark last week by punching the predator several times, driving it away so he could make his way back to shore.

University of Central Florida student Josh Green encountered the shark while at Cocoa Beach last Thursday, according to the Daily Mail. Around 3 p.m., Green was body surfing in the ocean when he felt the shark strike his right leg, pulling at the limb. According to Green, he didn’t understand at first that he was being attacked by a shark.

“I didn’t realize it was a shark until I punched it, thinking it was someone messing with me and then felt the face,” he noted.

Green didn’t see the shark that attacked him, according to Click Orlando, but a lifeguard who observed his injuries asserted that they were consistent with those inflicted by a blacktip shark. After Green managed to free himself from the predator’s grasp, he made his way to shore where the rest of his group remained, unaware he had been attacked.

“Everybody wanted to tan so I just went out by myself. I was riding with the waves and body surfing when out of nowhere I feel something grab my leg and yank,” he recalled.

After making it out of the ocean, Green limped to his friends, who quickly took him to the nearest lifeguard. A friend of Green’s transported him to a clinic by car, where the wounds inflicted by the shark’s attack were closed with 18 stitches. Green’s foot, ankle, and calf were all lacerated by the unseen shark during the attack.

Though blacktip sharks are often responsible for non-fatal bites in Florida, they are hardly alone in the waters off the Sunshine State. As the Inquisitr reported last week, a spearfisherman managed to record his encounter with a large, inquisitive white shark after spotting it while diving roughly 25 miles southeast of Port Canaveral. Though the shark caused him no harm, the diver was shocked when it unexpectedly appeared behind him, startling his friends on a nearby boat.

Despite the injuries he sustained, Green noted that he didn’t scream or call out during his interaction with the shark. On Sunday, he posted on Twitter to let friends know that he had returned to the beach to celebrate Mother’s Day, despite experiencing Florida’s most recent shark attack.

[Image: Spencer Platt / Getty Images]

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