A 21-year-old woman was walking in New Zealand waters — only knee deep — when she was seriously attacked by a shark.
The woman was wading through a shallow estuary in the touristy town of Riverton around 2:00 am Monday morning when the shark bit her in the leg, causing a "significant laceration," according to the Southern District Police. She was rushed to a local hospital in "serious condition."
"As far as I am aware that's the first shark attack of that kind in the estuary around Riverton. I have been here around 20 years and it's the first I've heard anything like that," said Riverton Coastguard president Ross McKenzie, via RNZ. "You would reasonably assume you'd be safe wading around in knee-deep water, but you just don't know what's out there and it is their environment, not ours." This might be "the first shark attack of that kind," but according to Stuff, at least one fisherman predicted this would happen two years ago.
From Stuff:
Hobby fisherman Dallas Templeton fears people are going to get bitten with the increasing number of sevengiller sharks in western Southland waters.
Templeton was fishing on the banks of the Aparima River, near the main bridge in Riverton, on Tuesday night, when he caught a sevengiller shark. There were four moving together.
"They are intimidating and big," he said.
"It is only going to be a matter of time before someone gets a big bite."
