Grandfather Escapes 6-Foot Shark Attack After Punching It in Head
"All of a sudden, something hit me, and hit my leg hard, and I thought, 'What is that?'" the 77-year-old said of the wobbegong shark. "I was very frightened."
A man in his 70s was attacked by a shark off the coast of Australia this weekend, punching it in the head to escape.
Richard Stubbs, 77, was snorkeling around 160 feet off the shore in Yallingup Lagoon in the southwest of Western Australia, when the 6-foot-long wobbegong shark attacked, biting him on the leg. The grandfather then punched the creature in the head until it let go, escaping and making it back to shore with the help of the friends he was swimming with.
The shark was a wobbegong, a group of 12 species of carpet sharks native to waters off Indonesia and Australia. These creatures are usually bottom-dwellers, spending most of their time near the seafloor, feeding on smaller fish and crustaceans.
A spotted wobbegong shark lays on seafloor. A man was bitten by a similar specimen off the coast of Western Australia.A spotted wobbegong shark lays on seafloor. A man was bitten by a similar specimen off the coast of Western Australia.ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS"All of a sudden, something hit me, and hit my leg hard, and I thought, 'What is that?'" Stubbs told Australian local news 7NEWS. "I was very frightened."
"I really didn't know what to do. It was very instantaneous," Stubbs added. The shark had left a deep gash in his right calf.
Stubbs thanked his friends who helped him get out of the water. "Just thinking about it, the whole thing, the whole occasion that arose, I'm just lucky to have that support and the people around me," he said. "I love them."
A tasseled wobbegong on the seafloor. This species of shark is usually docile toward humans.A tasseled wobbegong on the seafloor. This species of shark is usually docile toward humans.ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUSWobblegong sharks usually grow to lengths of only around 4 feet, but some species, including the spotted and the banded wobbegong, can reach a maximum of 10 feet long. They have a set of whisker-like lobes growing around their jaws, which serve as both a camouflage in their hunting of prey and a method of sensing their surroundings.
Usually, wobbegongs pose very little threat to humans, due to their lack of aggression, but have been reported to attack people on occasion when they come too close. The Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File has 31 wobbegong attacks on record, none of which was fatal.
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The attack on Stubbs came only two days before another swimmer was attacked by a great white shark in Australia. A man in his 20s was bitten on his leg around 2,000 feet out from Gnarabup Beach, also in Western Australia.
The young man survived but lost a lot of blood, local outlet 7NEWS reported, and local beaches were shut until further notice.
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