"Shark Attack Survivors News Archive"

09/20/2005 Clair Parrett (South Carolina)

Shark Attack Survivors News Archive for Shark Attacks in 2005
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09/20/2005 Clair Parrett (South Carolina)

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Shark bite victim still in hospital

By Kenneth A. Gailliard

The Sun News


North Myrtle Beach police may never know for certain what type of shark bit a visitor from New York.

Police are confident it was a shark that bit 68-year-old Clair Parrett while she was in the ocean Tuesday based on information from a Conway Medical Center doctor who is familiar with shark bites, said Sgt. David Capps of the North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety.



He said a witness who was in the water with Parrett described the shark as being about 3 or 4 feet long.

Police won't investigate further to try to determine what type of shark was responsible, Capps said, but the incident will be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard in Georgetown for record keeping.

The culprit likely was a black tip shark, he said, one of the many species common in the Myrtle Beach area.

Police said Parrett, who is expected to remain at Conway Medical Center through Friday, suffered bites on her fingers, calf and heel.

He said police think she was bitten on the fingers when she reached down to swat at the shark after it bit her on the calf. She then ran from the water, possibly causing the shark to scrape her heal as she ran.

Parrett told police she didn't see anything out of the ordinary at the time of the bite.

Police have said the bites usually occur accidentally when sharks hunt small fish as they swim near people.

Capps said small tidal pools have formed on the beach since Hurricane Ophelia and the shark might have been in one of those pools when it encountered Parrett.

Three people have been bitten by sharks this summer in Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle beach.

Clay Creswell, a case investigator from the Shark Research Institute in New Jersey, said the number of bites is about average for the summer.


http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/my ... 709667.htm
sharkbait
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Post by sharkbait »

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH - It may never be certain what type of shark bit a visitor from New York on Tuesday.

Sgt. David Capps of the North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety on Wednesday said his office is sure about what caused the woman's injuries based on information from a Conway Medical Center doctor who is familiar with shark bites.

Police believe it was a three- or four-foot shark, possibly a blacktip, that bit the 68-year-old woman. She was at Conway Medical Center on Wednesday, Capps said.

Capps said police will not investigate further to pinpoint the shark type. The incident will be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard in Georgetown for recordkeeping.

The 68-year-old New York woman was the third shark-bite victim in the Myrtle Beach area this summer. Her name was unavailable.

Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner said hospital officials confirmed she suffered shark bites on her right arm, leg and heel. No one else in the area was injured.


The shark bite did not prompt warnings for swimmers to stay out of the water, said Sgt. Randy Fisher of the North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety.

Shark bites are uncommon along the Grand Strand, said Dan Abel, an associate professor of marine science at Coastal Carolina University.

But, he said, "I'm not surprised we had another one."

"The sharks are there, the food they want is near the shore, the water is murky and there are people swimming."

These factors increase chances for a shark bite, Abel said.

The two other shark bites occurred in August. Two boys suffered bites within a week, one in Myrtle Beach and the other in North Myrtle Beach. Neither boy was seriously injured.

The woman injured Tuesday was in water about knee-deep when the bite occurred, Cartner said. She walked out of the water to get help after the shark struck, he said.

Fisher said there was no lifeguard on the beach at the time.

He said it's possible schools of bait fish were swimming near the woman when she was bitten.

"There are a lot of bait fish in the water now, and sometimes people get in the middle of the bait fish," he said.

Abel said the shark in Tuesday's incident likely was a blacktip shark or sandbar shark. He said the concentration of those sharks is high along the Grand Strand this time of the year.

"If you could see the number of sharks near the shore, you would see how few bites there are compared to the number of sharks," he said.
sharkbait
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Post by sharkbait »

Shark bites NMB visitor

Woman suffers leg, arm wounds

By Kenneth A. Gailliard

The Sun News


NORTH MYRTLE BEACH - A 68-year-old New York woman on Tuesday became the third shark-bite victim in the Myrtle Beach area this summer.

The woman was taken to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, but her name and condition were unavailable late Tuesday.

Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner said hospital officials confirmed she suffered shark bites on her right arm, leg and heel.

No one else in the area was injured.

Police had not determined what type of shark was responsible, said Sgt. Randy Fisher of the North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety.

The shark bite did not prompt warnings for swimmers to stay out of the water, Fisher said.

Shark bites are uncommon along the Grand Strand, said Dan Abel, an associate professor of marine science at Coastal Carolina University.

But, he said, "I'm not surprised we had another one."

"The sharks are there, the food they want is near the shore, the water is murky and there are people swimming."

These factors increase chances for a shark bite, Abel said.

The two other shark bites occurred in August.

Two boys suffered bites within a week, one in Myrtle Beach and the other in North Myrtle Beach. Neither boy was seriously injured.

The woman injured Tuesday was in water about knee-deep when the bite occurred, Cartner said.

She walked out of the water to get help after the shark struck, he said.

Fisher said there was no lifeguard on the beach at the time.

He said it's possible schools of bait fish were swimming near the woman when she was bitten.

"There are a lot of bait fish in the water now, and sometimes people get in the middle of the bait fish," he said.

Although authorities haven't identified the shark in Tuesday's incident, Abel said it likely was a blacktip shark or sandbar shark.

He said the concentration of those sharks is high along the Grand Strand this time of the year.

"If you could see the number of sharks near the shore, you would see how few bites there are compared to the number of sharks," he said.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/my ... 700339.htm
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