07/22/2023 Richard Stubbs 77 yr Yallingup Lagoon Western Australia

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Shark attack: Carpet shark attacks grandfather Richard Stubbs at Yallingup Lagoon

A South West grandfather broke down in tears as he relived the terrifying moment he was bitten by a two-metre shark.

Richard Stubbs - a 77-year-old Dunsborough grandfather - was with his swim team mates at Yallingup Lagoon on Saturday morning when the predator attacked from the seaweed.

“I was very frightened… really didn’t know what to do, it was instantaneous,” Mr Stubbs told 7News.

“All of a sudden something hit me, hit my leg hard… and I was like ‘what’s that’.”

The fish was a carpet shark known as a Wobbeegong, which is not deadly but can leave a nasty bite.

As the shark sunk its teeth into the grandfather, he punched it and managed, with help from his friends to escape.

“Just thinking about it again, the whole thing, I’m just lucky to have that support and people around me… I love them,” Mr Stubbs said.

The terrifying incident occurred just days before a shark attack in Margaret River on Monday.

Swell cameras captured a surfer in his 20s being tossed off his board 500m off shore by a suspected Great White at a popular surf break in Gnarabup.

The footage shows the moment the shark lunged at the surfer and the pair thrashing, about hundreds of metres from the shore.

It is understood the injured man managed to swim himself to safety at the boat ramp before an off-duty nurse provided first aid to a deep gash to his leg.

He was taken to Margaret River Hospital by other surfers before being taken by ambulance to Bunbury Regional Hospital for further treatment.

The man, understood to be an accomplished big-wave surfer, underwent surgery on his leg and remains in hspital in a stable condition.

A witness to the attack, who asked not to be named, told The West Australian the surfer was “bloody lucky it wasn’t worse”, although the injured man seemed calm when he made it to help near the White Elephant Cafe.

The witness also said the surfer was fortunate the nurse, who is believed to have been a visitor to the region, was on the scene.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, which launched an investigation, said it was suspected the shark responsible was believed to be about 2.5m long.

A week earlier, Albany man Keiron Benson had to fight for his life after a shark as “big as his boat” lunged at him while he was spearfishing near Coral Bay.

Telling The West about his encounter last week, Mr Benson said he was spearfishing for dinner with his family at Five Fingers Reef on July 16 when he noticed a “shape in the water” which had started to circle.

When the shark propelled itself at him, he was left with no choice but to shoot it in the eyeball.

But when that did not work, Mr Benson said he then grabbed its tail and took a deep breath.

“I’m just holding it, then it came back around and my feet were trailing behind and flapping near its face,” Mr Benson said.

“So I’ve pulled them in and tucked them underneath the shark.

“We were just going around in circles because it was doing that and I was just wrapped around hanging on.”

He said he remembered rotating “four or five times” before hearing the outboard motor of the family’s dinghy buzzing nearby and “copping an eyeball of the motor and all of the turbulence”.

Finally the shark stopped circling and Mr Benson let go as it dived downwards, giving him a chance to scramble into the boat.


https://thewest.com.au/