There’s been a rash of shark attacks recently in the state of Florida, spiking the number of attacks in an otherwise docile year. Just last week there were THREE shark attacks at New Smyrna Beach within just two hours, an incident that only bolsters New Smyrna’s claim as the ‘Shark Attack Capital of the World’. The pictures below (from the victim’s GoFundMe) are quite graphic, so if you’re not into seeing some gnarly blood then you should leave this article now.
In one of the shark attacks recorded last weekend at New Smyrna Beach (it’s unclear if this is one of the 3 attacks in 2 hours or a separate incident) 36-year-old Miami resident Chucky Luciano had his hands shredded like pulled pork in a very uncharacteristic shark attack. Unlike your typical shark encounter where it bites and swims away, this time the shark ripped his hand apart and then came back for a second attack, which gave Chucky Luciano time to prepare himself to go on the offensive and punch the shark before it had time to attack him again…He was able to punch the shark, as you’ll see below, but he was still mauled in the process.
via PalmBeachPost:
The encounter Luciano describes – not your typical case of mistaken identity where the shark bites and releases – is characteristic of some species of sharks, such as the aggressive and territorial bull shark, Burgess said.
That’s what Luciano believes it was. And it was about the same length as the 5’8″ board he was surfing.
“The second time he attacked, I was aware, OK, this is an attack, and I got to defend myself a little better,” Luciano said. “He was doing that aggressive shark twitching thing. I got to punch him right before he got too close to me but he still bit my right hand.”
Luciano said he could see the shark following him, but he managed to belly-in on a wave. Once he got to the beach and people realized he was hurt, help came pretty quickly.
“I thought I was going to die,” he said.
Luciano had reconstructive surgery on his left hand and doctors stitched up his right hand. A Go Fund Me account has been set up to help pay for his medical bills.
To give you an example of what’s happening New Smyrna Beach right now here’s a video of the annual mullet migration that travels Florida’s East Coast each year causing the water to be overrun with sharks:
You can find that GoFundMe account HERE, a fund set up to help pay for his surfer’s surgeries. Already the account’s generated over $10,000 towards its goal of $50,000, so it is well on its way to success and Luciano is well on his way to recovery.
…For more on this story you can head on over to the Palm Beach Post…