A tourist was bitten by a shark in shallow waters on Long Island Wednesday evening, just hours after a surfer was chomped on nearby — marking five feared shark attacks in New York in just two weeks.
The latest victim, only identified as a 49-year-old man from Arizona, was standing in waist-deep water on Fire Island’s Seaview Beach when he was attacked just after 6 p.m., Suffolk County police said.
The “shark came up from behind and bit him on the left wrist and buttocks,” police said in a statement.
Still, the victim was able to walk out of the water before he was flown to Stony Brook University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the force said.
The attack came less than 12 hours after 41-year-old attorney Shawn Donnelly was bitten on the calf while surfing off nearby Smith Point County Park in Shirley around 7:30 a.m.
Lifeguard Zach Gallo believes he was bit by a 5-foot-long sand tiger shark. Dennis A. Clark
Warnings signs at Long Island’s Smith Point Beach, site of two of three shark attacks in the last 10 days. Dennis A. ClarkThat was also where a 33-year-old lifeguard, Zach Gallo, had been bitten just 10 days earlier.
Meanwhile, a swimmer at Jones Beach suffered a cut right foot that was also deemed a “possible shark bite” on June 30.
Another lifeguard was bitten on the foot by a shark while training about 150 to 200 yards offshore at Ocean Beach on July 7, NBC New York reported.
A map of the recent surge in Long Island shark attacks.
On Thursday, swimming was halted on Fire Island’s Robert Moses State Park for about 90 minutes after an off-duty lifeguard reported seeing a shark while surfing at 8 a.m., according to Newsday.
Nassau police also responded to a reported shark sighting at Tobay Beach in Oyster Bay at about 1:20 p.m, the paper said. There were no reported injuries.
The latest scares came as injured lifeguard Gallo returned to duties Thursday at Smith Point County Park, the beach where he was bitten on his hand and chest during training drills on July 3.
Lifeguard Zach Gallo helps a swimmer get up. Dennis A. ClarkHe told a press conference that he was apprehensive, but “once I was in the water, I was just happy to be back.”
“My fellow guards and I were yelling, ‘Who’s ready for round two?’” he joked.
Donnelly, the surfing lawyer bitten Wednesday, told Newsday that he was aware of the earlier attacks before he became the latest victim in waters he has regularly surfed since the age of 12.
Lifeguard Zach Gallo returns to work helping swimmers at Smith Point County Beach. Dennis A. Clark
Lifeguard Zach Gallo is seen carrying a man out of the water. Dennis A. Clark“It was a calculated risk that I got wrong,” he said.
He believes his attacker was a 5-foot-long sand tiger shark that “came under me” — one that he punched as a lucky wave broke, pushing him to shore, he told the paper.
He initially thought he had escaped uninjured, but then “saw the blood running down my leg and one clear bite mark,” he said of the 2-inch wound on his calf.
The attorney said it would not deter him from returning to riding waves — and made clear he has no right to seek a claim against his attacker.
“I don’t begrudge him. He was just doing his job — being a shark,” the lawyer said.
Newsday also said that swimming was halted at Fire Island’s Robert Moses State Park for about 90 minutes Thursday morning after an off-duty lifeguard reported seeing a shark while surfing at 8 a.m.
