Shark kills woman swimming with seals

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 8.20.03

[mhking]

AVILA BEACH, Calif. -- A 50-year-old woman died when a shark attacked her as she swam with seals Tuesday morning near the pier of this tiny beach town near San Luis Obispo, authorities said.

Deborah Franzman of Nipomo was swimming as she did several times a week near some buoys about 75 yards offshore when the attack occurred about 8:20 a.m.

"The water was full of blood," said Antonio Neotti, 15, an aspiring lifeguard who watched four lifeguards swim through the surf to rescue her.

"They pulled her out on the beach," he said. "She was not conscious. It looked like she was bitten in her hip and her upper thigh."

A friend watching Franzman from onshore said that harbor seals suddenly scattered and that the swimmer was engulfed in a large breach of white water, according to state and local authorities.

A man near the beach reported seeing a large fin.

Franzman, a sociology instructor at Allen Hancock College in Santa Maria, died at the scene.

Lifeguards immediately closed the waters to swimming.

"The picture painted so far fits perfectly of what would be a white shark incident," said Robert Lea, a marine biologist who tracks shark attacks for the California Department of Fish and Game. "We'll know more after the autopsy. But if you look at the statistics, most incidents are at the surface. These animals are ambush predators. They come up from underneath."

If confirmed by the autopsy planned for Wednesday, Franzman's death would be the 10th shark-bite fatality in California waters since authorities standardized record-keeping in the early 1950s.

Not only are unprovoked shark bites unusual -- with 93 reported since the record-keeping began -- biologists believe that they often may be due to mistaken identity.

In this case, they suspect that Franzman, who was clad in a dark wetsuit and fins, resembled the seals that are abundant in the waters off Avila Beach and adjacent Port San Luis. Seals are the favorite food of mature great white sharks.

"There's a common denominator here," Lea said. "She's swimming with marine mammals. If you are a swimmer on the surface, you have a silhouette that looks like a marine mammal."

Most shark-bite victims survive if they can make it ashore quickly and stop the bleeding. In this case, coroner's officials suspect that the woman bled to death because the shark appeared to have severed the femoral artery.

"We should be able to determine the cause of death," said Capt. Gary L. Hoving of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department. "We'll find out if it was drowning or loss of blood."

At the request of state fish and game officials, the coroner's office will also X-ray the wounds to look for tooth fragments and scratch marks on the bone to determine if the bites came from a great white shark. Great whites are protected under state law and are known to hunt in the coastal waters off Northern and Central California.

Franzman, who was following her regular routine, arrived at the beach with a friend and two dogs, and swam along offshore buoys that mark the beach west of the pier as restricted from motorboats. Authorities estimate it to be about 15 feet deep.

Lifeguards normally do not come on duty until 10 a.m. But about 25 guards were congregated at Avila Beach for a regional competition, including swimming around the pier. Some guards were in the water at the time of the attack.

Antonio was on the pier, watching the competition, and noticed that the "seals seemed to be acting all funny. They were bunched up together, and they would come up and look around."

Then Franzman's friend starting shouting for help from shore, and lifeguards were soon sprinting down the beach to come to Franzman's aid. Four of them plunged into the water and swam out to help her.

"They were just acting on training and instinct, without thinking about any potential danger 1/8for themselves 3/8," said Russ Edwards, senior lifeguard for the Port San Luis Harbor District. "There is no guideline in the U.S. Lifeguard Assn. manual which specifies we have to go into the water and make a rescue in a situation like this."

Greg Weisberg, head of the harbor district's marine safety division, said the lifeguards "tried to administer first aid to the best of their ability."

Avila Beach, which is 200 miles north of Los Angeles, is about 10 miles from the closest ambulance.

Paramedics from the California Division of Forestry were the first to arrive.

Authorities had to improvise.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Deputy Matt Danielson said the ambulance couldn't cross the broad beach, so a lifeguard truck ferried Franzman to the street.

Lifeguards patrolled the beaches along the coast throughout the day and night to warn people to stay out of the surf.

A Coast Guard ship came into the sheltered bay and warned boaters of the danger.

The incident rattled authorities in this beach town, which is best known for the nearby Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and the enormous underground oil spill that forced Unocal to raze most of downtown in its extensive cleanup efforts.

"Usually, we see very petty stuff, like drinking on the beach, parking violations and kids getting out of hand," Danielson said. "We've never seen anything like this."

Sheriff's Lt. Martin Basti spent the day fielding questions from a swarm of television journalists drawn by the freak incident.

"The odds of this happening are just so incredible, it's hard to know what to do," Basti said.

[mhking]

Mmmmmm.... Lunch!

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[ClearCase_guy]

She shoulda danced with wolves, instead.

[CollegeRepublican]

Sorry to bust your balls, but this has been posted already. Do a search on "shark".

[facedown]

If you don't want to get eaten, don't swim in the chum line.

[bigfootbob]

"Franzman, a sociology instructor at Allen Hancock College in Santa Maria, died at the scene."

Talk about poetic justice.

[Pikamax]

"A 50-year-old woman died when a shark attacked her as she swam with seals "

and at NO point noone thought this might not be the smartest idea in the world? Great White swimming around and thinking " thats the biggest seal I have ever seen.. LUNCH!"

[ken5050]

She was probably the biggest, and slowest, "seal" in the water..and thus the obvious target....FYI..studies of great white attacks off S. Africa, have shown that when the shark first bites into a human, they somehow sense that it isn't prey, and literally spit the humans out..

[bandleader]

While this is certainly tragic,it is also ridiculous!Anyone with half a brain is aware that seals and other marine-mammals are a favorite food of sharks!!This particular shark was shopping for a meal and mistook the woman for a seal!!!

[1Old Pro]

Great whites are protected under state law and are known to hunt in the coastal waters off Northern and Central California.

WHY? Unless of course the seal population is too large. But then again if that were the case they would allow them to be hunted by man and their skin could be used for clothing.

[bigfootbob]

"...first bites into a human, they somehow sense that it isn't prey, and literally spit the humans out.."

Shows the sharks have taste. Would you eat a fat, oily, mean faced clipped haired liberal by choice? I bet they don't taste like chicken! :o

[Paleo Conservative]

No Darwin Award. At fifty she was in no position to add anymore to the gene pool anyway.

[ken5050]

juast because she's a sociology prof..you assume she's a lib........(g)

[nightdriver]

"Great whites are protected under state law and are known to hunt in the coastal waters off Northern and Central California."

It's one of the interesting if incomprehensible characteristics of liberals to pass laws protecting their own predators.

[Ann Archy]

The odds that an "educated" woman would swim with Seals and NOT expect to be eaten by a shark are fantastic!!

Darwin Award Winner.

[CollegeRepublican]

Almost anywhere in California there is the potential to be swimming with seals. It is not really your choice, it is the seals.

Also, any time you are in salt water and sometimes in freshwater you can be attacked by a shark and sometimes die. It happens alot more than townships and the media let on. Surfers will be bumped or rushed by sharks and not tell anyone about it, so as not to give away their secret spot.

Here in Maryland on the coast there is a theory going around us surfers that the town of Ocean City cover-ups any nibble or bite. If the story does get out it is always an agressive bluefish bite, never a shark.

[Porterville]

That's just right down the road from where I live now...in Los Osos, I didn't know that the sharks were hungry in these parts.... I wonder if I can get some liberals I know to hit the beach with me?!

[jjbrouwer]

Were the seals okay?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Well I am glad that he posted the article. When I got up this morning I forgot to do a search on anyone who might have posted any articles on "sharks".

[bigfootbob]

Not quite. Yes, being a sociology prof. is a 1st strike. Swimming with any wild animal is LIBERAL folly, strike 2. And, probably the most damaging fact is she's from San Luis Obispo, She's out!

[finnman69]

[NYFriend]

I don't knwo if this is on topic, but I saw a Discovery Channel show on two video taped shark attacks the other day. The fist was a small Bull, who bit a reseacher's calf a few times. The second was a Great White attack on a woman. The second one was scarier than any part of Jaws, it was incredible.

[CollegeRepublican]

She loved 'freedom' of sea
Carol Roberts and Laurie Phillips
The Tribune

Deborah "Debbie" Blanche Franzman, the Nipomo woman who died Tuesday in what was likely a shark attack, swam at Avila Beach several days a week.

In a 1999 Tribune interview, the Allan Hancock College sociology teacher said she liked the "sense of freedom" and the salty water.

"It tastes fresh," she said then. "The wonderful thing about the ocean is it's different every time you go in."

Bill Borgman of Arroyo Grande was one of those who swam at Avila with Franzman until he recently changed jobs. He helped her celebrate her 50th birthday last month with other friends.

It was difficult for him to talk about her Tuesday.

"This is such a great loss for all who knew her," he said. "She was a great human being. Just knowing her would enrich your life."

She loved teaching and was a champion of the disadvantaged, Borgman said. She also was a single mother who had adopted a son, Alex, now in his teens.

"She really had a social consciousness," he added. "She was strong on women's rights. She was just a super gal."

Franzman was a board member at Unity of San Luis Obispo church for at least four years and a team leader for community outreach.

"She was a tremendous initiator, and she had tremendous leadership qualities," said the Rev. Leona Evans. "She could get you excited about something."

The lean woman with the shaggy gray hair - "more salt recently than pepper," Evans said - spoke clearly and assertively about the need to recognize and appreciate diversity. She taught classes on the subject at Hancock for 16 years, 14 full-time, and Evans said it was one of her passions.

The others were running and swimming. "Her meditation was physical activity," Evans said.

Evans said Franzman organized a walk-a-thon for the Montessori at the church and helped institute a SCRIP fund-raising program for the church. She loved her teaching but often wondered whether her students heard her.

"She had such high ideals, she didn't realize how impactful, how powerful, what a great teacher she was," Evans said. "I don't think she realized what an impact she made."

[reformed_democrat]

It's one of the interesting if incomprehensible characteristics of liberals to pass laws protecting their own predators.

My vote for Quote of the Day.

[CollegeRepublican]

Flying fish.

I have dreams of surfing and a shark jumping on me because of these pictures.

[Porterville]

You know, I have a liberal chum I ate lunch with yesterday.

[StriperSniper]

[Revolting cat!]

She loved her teaching but often wondered whether her students heard her.

For their sake, I hope they didn't. What a shameless description of a maroon! She sounds like a typical leftist deep thinker. Yukk!

[G.Mason]

Suicide, no doubt about it.

Anyone knows that edgycated people don't make them kind of misteaks.

On a more series note:What took her so long?

sociology instructor?

A few years of that depression riddled occupation would make us all mad.

Add to that the fact that she may have been having a "bad hair" day?

Yep, suicide, fer shure.

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

Confusion say, "Those Californians who swim with shark, get chomped with good housekeeping seal of approval.."

[Little John]

...... Not only are unprovoked shark bites unusual -- ....

Anyone ever read or heard of a "provoked" attack?

[CommerceComet]

An orca would have been a quicker (but messier) way to go. She wouldn't have died on the beach if an orca had been browsing the lunch line. If a killer whale mistakes her for a seal, she would have been cut in half on the first bite.

[bigfootbob]

You can thank the movie Jaws for the Great White shark protection act. That movie caused the Great White population to be decimated especially in their native hunting grounds in the Santa Catalina Islands.

The West Coast seal population exploded. Then the loss of the Salmon caught peoples attention. They tried in my state to invent a market for the seals, but they are protected also and the seals taste like liberals, fatty and rancid.

[Blood of Tyrants]

harbor seals suddenly scattered

Shoulda been a hint.

[meowmeow]

Anyone ever read or heard of a "provoked" attack?

Never underestimate the stupidity of the masses.

[BlueLancer]

Candygram ...

[Rebelbase]

Found this, its a great white that chomped on this guy's board.

[Rebelbase]

Here is the one I was looking for

Speculation about weather its a shark or not...maybe an small Orca...kind of big for a porpoise. Either way, I'd have warmed my wet suit on both sides had I been the surfer in the photo.

[nonessential-personel]

All of you who guesed she's a liberal have nailed it. After 20 years of marriage, and many years immersed in academia, she realized she was a lesbian and left her husband. My prayers go out to her teenage son.....

[from occupied ga]

This reminds me of the bear joke where the punch line is "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you."

[capydick]

"The odds of this happening are just so incredible, it's hard to know what to do," Basti said

Unless you have a death wish. That closes the odds pretty fast.

[Colt .45]

They may spit the humans out however, the damage is already done. Now bull sharks on the other hand, are notorious for eating humans, they and tiger sharks were the culprits for over 700 deaths of the crew of the USS INDIANAPOLIS in WW2.

My other thought is that this educator wasn't the sharpest knife in the rack, and she deserves a Darwin Award for swimming with the natural food source for a Great White.

[Sender]

I'll stick to bluegill and crappie after looking at your pics.

[Lijahsbubbe]

That is a fantastic photo!

[Bilbo Baggins]

ping

[Trueblackman]

As I told my Major here at work you look at this picture and basically know you are f**ked.

[pabianice]

"It tastes fresh,"

Is this a quote from the shark?

[Teacher317]

Wow. Just wow.

[Mamzelle]

!! What fabulous pictures. Do sharks breach like whales and orcas? I've never seen that it photos before you posted these... Shark above surface, one for NG?

[Mamzelle]

Another heart-stopping picture. Isn't a curved dorsal a mammal's fin?