Oh, the humanity! Photos: BBC
A 30-year-old teacher from Kingsbridge Community College in England is the first-ever victim of a shark attack in the UK. It is believed to be the first time a surfer has been attacked by a shark in UK waters.
According to The Telegraph, Rich Thomson was surfing off Bantham, a beach in South Devon, when a 3-foot shark latched onto his thigh. “I turned ’round and saw this little shark was on my thigh and wriggling its head side to side,” he told The Telegraph. “I hit it on the head and it swam off. My hand was cut to pieces.”
Luckily for Thomson, the shark is thought to be a smooth-hound shark, a species that is generally harmless to humans. Their teeth are blunt and they generally stay near the bottom.
After beating the shark on the head, Thomson paddled in and drove home to tell his wife. “I went home and told my wife I was late because I had been bitten by a shark,” he said. “She said ‘I’ve heard that one before’, but it was true.”
His injuries were mild–a three-inch bruise on his leg and a few small cuts on his hand. “It won’t stop me going back in the water and it shouldn’t stop anyone,” he said. “I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Marc Dando, a wildlife publisher, believes that the wrong place wrong time theory is correct. “All sharks can be very territorial,” he said. “It was probably just telling the person to go away and struck out.”
