Swimmer bled to death
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:55 pm
Aug 31, 2000 - 07:38 PM
Swimmer bled to death
Yoli Pate was floating on a raft in her backyard swimming pool in St. Pete Beach when she heard horrifying screams from her next-door neighbor's wife.
``She was screaming for five to 10 minutes,'' said a shaken Pate. ``The screams were very eerie; very scary.''
Neighbors say Thadeus Kubinski, 69, of 4321 Holland Drive, was taking his usual swim in Boca Ciega Bay, beside his own dock, when he was attacked and killed about 4 p.m. Wednesday by what authorities suspect was an 8-to 9-foot-long bull shark weighing 400 pounds.
An autopsy performed Thursday determined that Kubinski essentially bled to death. His liver was heavily damaged in the attack.
Kubinski's wounds to the right side of his body, officials said, were consistent with a shark attack, said Fred Golliner, St. Pete Beach fire chief.
``The body was floating right next to the sea wall,'' said Pate, who did not see the shark. ``There was blood everywhere.''
Kubinski was swimming in water four to five feet deep.
Shark experts assisted the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office in the autopsy.
Several of the neighborhood's residents were startled by the attack. Some at the scene said they, too, regularly swim, fish and boat in the waters by their upscale homes.
``My daughter, she swims in this water all the time. We all do,'' said Susan Cassidy, who lives a few houses down from Kubinski. ``This guy swam every day.''
The attack stunned shark specialists.
``Deaths are few and far between,'' said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. ``This is a very unusual event.'' Burgess will assist at the autopsy.
He added, ``It's not the time to be shutting beaches or getting into any `Jaws'-like panic.''
There have been only eight unprovoked shark attacks in Pinellas County since record keeping began more than 100 years ago. The last fatality was in 1981.
``There's always sharks in the area; this is their habitat,'' Golliner said. ``But I've been with the city for 25 years now, and I've never, ever heard of a shark attack.''
The last fatal shark attack in Florida waters occurred in November 1998 in Indian River County, when a tiger shark killed a child swimmer.
Before that, a fatal attack occurred in 1988 in Bay County, and one in Pinellas County in 1981 when a Tampa bartender tried to swim from Anna Maria Island to Egmont Key.
Experts say bull sharks and hammerhead sharks come to mind first for being capable of such an attack. A small group of hammerheads was visible from the air just a couple of hundred feet from the site of Wednesday's fatality.
The first species that came to Burgess' mind was bull shark, but he said the wounds would have to be examined to make such a determination.
Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Sarasota's Mote Marine laboratory agreed. Bull sharks ``can be very aggressive, not skittish like most sharks,'' Hueter said. ``They are the most dangerous species in this area's coastal waters.
``Still, shark attacks are very, very rare.''
Terri Hepburn, assistant director of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, said hammerheads cannot be ruled out.
``The way [hammerheads] hunt makes them more prone to ... mistake prey,'' she said. ``They are more apt to go for prey on the spur of the moment. They are not into stalking as much as some of the other species of sharks are.''
Why would a shark attack a human?
``They are attracted to certain behavioral things,'' Burgess said. ``The reality is that a splashing human might be attractive to a shark.''
Or the creature just might have made a mistake.
``They don't know that you are not food,'' said Jeff Swanagan, executive director of the Florida Aquarium. ``So they take a chunk of you to see what you are.''
Attacks vary by their location.
On Florida's east coast, they typically involve smaller sharks and are more of the hit-and-run variety, Burgess said. One the west coast, they involve larger sharks, occur less often but are frequently more serious, he said.
Kubinski would have celebrated his 70th birthday a week from today.
He owned rental property in both Connecticut and in Pinellas County, those who knew him said.
``He was a very, very nice guy,'' said Joe Litterio, who lived next door to Kubinski when he lived in Enfield, Conn., nearly a decade ago. ``He was very good to his tenants. He was always doing improvements to his houses.''
Both Kubinski and his wife were active, Litterio said.
``He and his wife were always walking everywhere. A lot of walking, a lot of exercising,'' he said. ``He was in good shape. I wouldn't have believed he was almost 70. He seemed a lot younger than that.''
Swimmer bled to death
Yoli Pate was floating on a raft in her backyard swimming pool in St. Pete Beach when she heard horrifying screams from her next-door neighbor's wife.
``She was screaming for five to 10 minutes,'' said a shaken Pate. ``The screams were very eerie; very scary.''
Neighbors say Thadeus Kubinski, 69, of 4321 Holland Drive, was taking his usual swim in Boca Ciega Bay, beside his own dock, when he was attacked and killed about 4 p.m. Wednesday by what authorities suspect was an 8-to 9-foot-long bull shark weighing 400 pounds.
An autopsy performed Thursday determined that Kubinski essentially bled to death. His liver was heavily damaged in the attack.
Kubinski's wounds to the right side of his body, officials said, were consistent with a shark attack, said Fred Golliner, St. Pete Beach fire chief.
``The body was floating right next to the sea wall,'' said Pate, who did not see the shark. ``There was blood everywhere.''
Kubinski was swimming in water four to five feet deep.
Shark experts assisted the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office in the autopsy.
Several of the neighborhood's residents were startled by the attack. Some at the scene said they, too, regularly swim, fish and boat in the waters by their upscale homes.
``My daughter, she swims in this water all the time. We all do,'' said Susan Cassidy, who lives a few houses down from Kubinski. ``This guy swam every day.''
The attack stunned shark specialists.
``Deaths are few and far between,'' said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. ``This is a very unusual event.'' Burgess will assist at the autopsy.
He added, ``It's not the time to be shutting beaches or getting into any `Jaws'-like panic.''
There have been only eight unprovoked shark attacks in Pinellas County since record keeping began more than 100 years ago. The last fatality was in 1981.
``There's always sharks in the area; this is their habitat,'' Golliner said. ``But I've been with the city for 25 years now, and I've never, ever heard of a shark attack.''
The last fatal shark attack in Florida waters occurred in November 1998 in Indian River County, when a tiger shark killed a child swimmer.
Before that, a fatal attack occurred in 1988 in Bay County, and one in Pinellas County in 1981 when a Tampa bartender tried to swim from Anna Maria Island to Egmont Key.
Experts say bull sharks and hammerhead sharks come to mind first for being capable of such an attack. A small group of hammerheads was visible from the air just a couple of hundred feet from the site of Wednesday's fatality.
The first species that came to Burgess' mind was bull shark, but he said the wounds would have to be examined to make such a determination.
Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Sarasota's Mote Marine laboratory agreed. Bull sharks ``can be very aggressive, not skittish like most sharks,'' Hueter said. ``They are the most dangerous species in this area's coastal waters.
``Still, shark attacks are very, very rare.''
Terri Hepburn, assistant director of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, said hammerheads cannot be ruled out.
``The way [hammerheads] hunt makes them more prone to ... mistake prey,'' she said. ``They are more apt to go for prey on the spur of the moment. They are not into stalking as much as some of the other species of sharks are.''
Why would a shark attack a human?
``They are attracted to certain behavioral things,'' Burgess said. ``The reality is that a splashing human might be attractive to a shark.''
Or the creature just might have made a mistake.
``They don't know that you are not food,'' said Jeff Swanagan, executive director of the Florida Aquarium. ``So they take a chunk of you to see what you are.''
Attacks vary by their location.
On Florida's east coast, they typically involve smaller sharks and are more of the hit-and-run variety, Burgess said. One the west coast, they involve larger sharks, occur less often but are frequently more serious, he said.
Kubinski would have celebrated his 70th birthday a week from today.
He owned rental property in both Connecticut and in Pinellas County, those who knew him said.
``He was a very, very nice guy,'' said Joe Litterio, who lived next door to Kubinski when he lived in Enfield, Conn., nearly a decade ago. ``He was very good to his tenants. He was always doing improvements to his houses.''
Both Kubinski and his wife were active, Litterio said.
``He and his wife were always walking everywhere. A lot of walking, a lot of exercising,'' he said. ``He was in good shape. I wouldn't have believed he was almost 70. He seemed a lot younger than that.''