Man Bitten Twice by Shark Off Ormand Beach
Monday, July 10, 2000
ORMOND BEACH, FLORIDA- An unusually aggressive shark attacked a Holly Hill man swimming north of the Neptune Road beach approach Sunday, the Beach Patrol said.
Anthony Zent, 41, was in the water just after 6 p.m. when he was bitten twice in the leg by a shark, said Beach Patrol Deputy Chief Joe Wooden. Zent was taken to Halifax Medical Center with a 15-inch bite above his right knee and an 8-inch bite in his right calf, Wooden said.
"It is unusual in that it bit him two times," Wooden said. He said most bites are accidents and sharks usually let go once they realize they didn't bite a small fish.
Bystanders wrapped Zent's leg in towels to try and stop the bleeding, Wooden said. He was being treated in the emergency room late Sunday night.
Sunday's incident was the seventh shark bite in Volusia County this year. Wooden said he didn't know if Zent was swimming or standing when the shark bit.
Volusia County led the world in unprovoked shark attacks in 1999 with nine, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. The file listed only 49 unprovoked shark attacks for 1999 around the world, down from 54 the year before. Florida accounted for 51 percent of those bites.