At least four people were bitten by sharks off the coast of Long Island, New York, in the past two days, including three on July 4 alone.
A shark bit a 49-year-old man on the hand while he swam off the Fire Island Pines hamlet Tuesday. Another shark bit a woman’s thigh off the coast of Fire Island later in the day, according to the Suffolk County police.
A 47-year-old man was also bitten on his right knee while wading in the water near Quogue Village Beach soon before 2 p.m. Tuesday, reported police.
All three victims went to nearby hospitals to be treated for minor injuries.
A 15-year-old boy was nipped on his heel and toes while surfing near Fire Island early Monday evening, police said.
The teen’s heel and toes remained intact and he was able to swim to shore. He then went to the hospital for injuries considered non-life-threatening.
A 15-year-old girl suffered three small puncture wounds to her left leg Monday while swimming off the coast of Robert Moses State Park near Babylon, New York.
Authorities couldn’t determine the source of the injury, so they haven’t said it was a shark. The girl was treated for her injuries by paramedics at the scene.
“It was like ’Jaws’ relived,” Thomas Ruskin, president of the Seaview Association of Fire Island, told New York’s Daily News. “The shark season seems to have started a lot earlier than last summer.”
New York recorded eight shark attacks last summer, and the U.S. logged 41 of the 57 unprovoked shark incidents worldwide in 2022, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File. Florida led the way with 16 recorded shark attacks.
Marine experts believe the increase in shark attacks is due to more baitfish returning to New York’s cleaner coastal waters.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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