The Shark Attack of Harold Brandner
Date of Incident:		February 15, 2008
Time of Day:		17h00
Victim Information
Name of Victim:		Harold Brandner
Sex of Victim:		M
Age of Victim:		25
Injury to Victim:		Left foot bitten required 25 stitches. See Pictures
Location Information
Country of Incident:		USA
State or Area:		Florida
Exact or Nearest Location:		200 yards south of Ponce de Leon Inlet's south jetty. Volusia County
Activity Information
General Activity		Surfing
Detailed Activity prior to incident:		I was riding a wave and jumped off at the end in about 6-7 feet of water. I pushed off the bottom to hop back on my board. On the way up, a shark hit my left foot and chomped into it.
Species Information
Species:		Blacktip or Spinner suspected
Species Length:		60 - 72 inches 5 to 6 feet
Description of incident:		Attack Survivor - Harold Brandner I've been an avid surfer and I always had prepared myself for the possibility of getting bit by a shark, but it was still shocking when it actually happened. I was riding a wave and jumped off at the end in about 6-7 feet of water. I pushed off the bottom to hop back on my board. On the way up, a shark hit my left foot and chomped into it. It let go after a second or two and I jumped up on my board and rode the next wave to shore on my belly. I'm surprised at just how calm I was, but I've always known that you have to stay calm in situations like this and prepared myself accordingly. So I get out of the water and see that my foot was bleeding pretty good. I left a nice trail of blood from the water to my car. I threw my board in my car and drove about 100 yards to where a beach patrol officer was pulling someone over. I pulled next to him and he said to hold on because "I'm kind of busy right now". So I opened my door and stuck my bloody foot out and said "I got bit by a shark". That got his attention fast! I got onto the back of his truck. He takes pictures for the shark bite database and starts to wrap my foot up to stop the bleeding. I got a little dizzy from the shock/blood loss so I got a little oxygen to make me feel better. After that I drove myself to the hospital and checked into the emergency room. All the doctors and nurses that walked by came to check out my foot and were like "ooooo cool a shark bite!". I thought that was pretty funny. They gave me 25 stitches and some pain killers and antibiotics and I was on my way. I've been on crutches for 4 days, but the pain is starting to subside and I can put a little weight on my foot now. The doctors said I was lucky because the shark came very close to tendons. It mainly got the fleshy part between my heel and big toe. That took 20 stitches. It also split open my 3rd and 4th toes, which took 5 stitches to close, and gave me some minor lacerations on the left side of my foot and my other toes. The beach patrol guys said it was probably a black tip or spinner shark since those had been sighted lately. And probably about 5-6 feet since it got my whole foot with one bite. And yes I plan on surfing again as soon as I'm healed :) Regards, Harold Brandner
Injury Picture:

All the details and pictures of this shark attack are the property of Harold Brandner

Harold Brandner provided this information to Shark Attack Survivors to share with you.