09/05/2005 Elizabeth Gardner (North Carolina)

[sharkbait]

A Shark Bite in the East?
Sep 6, 2005
DeShaunta Bullock
WNCT-TV 9

A woman is recovering tonight after being bitten by something in the water. It happened yesterday afternoon on North Topsail Beach in Onslow County.

She was taken to the Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune.

George Moore tells Nine On Your Side an 18-year-old woman was walking on a sand bar in the ocean suddenly something grabbed her leg. ?? "We were more concerned with stopping the bleeding to the lower extremity so the victim would not go into shock."

No one knows for sure if it was a shark, but the hospital is treating it as if it were.? In fact, it has been years since Onslow County has had a confirmed shark attack in these waters.? Because the waters along the beach are not clear, nearly all of those who have been bitten couldn't tell what bit them.

Onslow county emergency center director Butch Thompson says very often a barracuda bite can be mistaken for shark bite. But we also talked to people who live in north Topsail Island. One man told us he actually caught a few sharks right off the beach while he was surf fishing, one nearly 4 feet long.?

Locals say we should always be mindful that sharks and other creatures are out there, our playground is their home.

We were unable to find the status of the bite victim from the naval hospital.