As of Monday, Leah Stewart is still in critical condition. Photo: Gofundme
An Australian woman is in critical condition after a shark encounter at Coogee Beach outside Sydney. The encounter is the latest in a rash of shark attacks in the country, which have fueled a contentious debate as to how to respond.
On Saturday, June 13, 35-year-old primary school teacher Leah Stewart took a morning swim. According to a GoFundMe started for her, she was swimming close to shore, within the flags on the beach, when she was attacked by a suspected 12-foot white shark, receiving “multiple bites across her arms and legs, lacerations and fractures throughout her body, and extreme blood loss.”
Members of the public soon came to her aid. One of her rescuers was 24-year-old lifesaver Charlie Verco, who paddled into the still bloody water to pull Stewart onto his board.
“It’s such a tragic situation,” her older brother Joshua Stewart told The Guardian. “Leah is so full of life, she’s so energetic, she loves the ocean, she was a keen swimmer, she was swimming in the flags, really close to the shore when it happened on a crystal-clear Saturday morning. She’d done all the right things.”
As of Monday, Stewart remained in critical condition on life support in the intensive care unit at St. Vincent’s hospital. She has already undergone an arm amputation, but her family says that the true extent of her injuries remains undetermined. “We’re still waiting on further news from the hospital,” added Joshua. “There are multiple, quite serious injuries.”
Just last week, a spearfisherman died after being bitten near Perth, Western Australia. Another spearfisherman died near Perth in May.
This latest incident has also reopened the perennial debate over how to effectively deter attacks. Some public figures, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, have once again called for shark culls, while scientists and conservation organizations have said they are ineffective. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has already clarified that the government would not cull great white sharks, due to their protected status, NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty did not rule out the possibility of culling bull sharks in a Sunday press conference, saying “Nothing is off the table in terms of how we keep the community safe.”
