A 52-year-old man was injured after he was reportedly bitten by a shark while surfing at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, authorities said.
The Pacifica Police Department and North County Fire Authority were dispatched to the scene at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Friday after receiving a report from the injured surfer, who was able to get out of the water and call for help. Once authorities arrived, the man told officers he had been out in the waves “when something bit his lower leg causing injury,” a statement from police read.
The man could not see what type of animal had bitten his leg and was unable to confirm whether it was a shark. He was “transported to a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening injuries,” police said. His current condition is unknown.
The news follows an incident earlier this month in which a swimmer was reported missing off Point Reyes National Seashore after witnesses reported seeing a shark in the water. The man was later identified as Felix Louis N’jai, an avid kite surfer and CEO at ENIAC Labs. He has yet to be found. After multiple days of searching, plans for additional recovery efforts were minimal, a spokesperson for Point Reyes National Seashore told SFGATE.
It’s not clear what type of shark may have been involved, but great white sharks are observed in Point Reyes most frequently in August, September and October. These months coincide with migration season for male California sea lions and the period in the fall when juvenile northern elephant seals haul out, according to the National Park Service. Linda Mar Beach is about 44 miles south from Wildcat Beach, where N’jai was reported missing.
Since 1950, 19 shark-related incidents have been reported in San Mateo County, according to data from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The most recent occurred at Bean Hollow State Beach in August when a shark bit a fisherman’s kayak and threw him out of the vessel, forcing him to swim about 500 feet back to shore. He sustained no injuries, the Mercury News reported. One of the attacks involving a freediver off Pigeon Point in 1984 was fatal.
Source : SFGATE
