Posted on 05/02/2017 6:17:16 PM PDT by Pelham
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A woman attacked by a shark off San Onofre State Beach over the weekend remains hospitalized and is "fighting for her life" at a local hospital.
On April 29, Leeanne Ericson was swimming when a shark bit her. Her mother, Christine McKnerney Leidle, said on a GoFundMe page set up for her daughter's medical costs that the shark "tore her right back leg from her glute to her knee."
Leidle told 10News her daughter's boyfriend, who was surfing in the immediate area, quickly came to her aid and put her on the surfboard to get her back to shore.
Leidle said a man onshore, who had just completed his EMT training, used a surfboard leash as a tourniquet. Leidle believes that and the quick response by first responders helped keep her daughter alive.
Ericson, 36, was airlifted to Scripps Memorial Hospital, where she "has a long [road] ahead with several surgeries to go," according to her mother.
As of Tuesday morning, nearly $34,000 has been raised in support of Ericson, who her mother described as "a single mom with three young children who depend on her."
Due to the shark attack, officials shut down the beach until Wednesday morning.
There have been no other shark sightings since the attack.
Wow. I used to surf there all the time. Great longboarding spot. Nice people, too ... as opposed to Malibu. Prayers up for her recovery.
Great White pups began showing up off of the OC coast maybe two years ago. Now some of them have grown to over 8’ in length and they are hanging around and not moving on. Great Whites of that size are getting in the dangerous to humans range.
Two weeks ago a 55 ft humpback whale was found dead off of Newport Beach. It was towed out some miles beyond Dana Point where some shark taggers are keeping an eye on it. A pregnant 16 ft Great White was seen biting a chunk out of the whale carcass. The shark is so big its dorsal fin was visible a mile away.
We had another serious shark attack last year at Corona del Mar, a woman triathlete doing a practice swim. A bad attack, but this new one is much worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXcZv9DS4n8
A pod of nine Orca whales is in Monterey Bay and eating gray whale calves. The winter water was colder than normal this year and thie gray whales had to spend winter farther south. The Orcas headed south looking for food. The grays arrived at Monterey later than usual just when the Orcas were arriving. The grays normally hug close to the coast line for protection, but cannot do that in Monterey Bay. So the Orcas hit them in open water.
Great whites are drawn to food sources. Seals have not been culled so herds are at record numbers. Shark are not too smart and occasionally mistake humans for seals.
They are not picky eaters, despite what the they-won’t-eat-you crew says.
Sea Lion populations in Southern California are not at record numbers due to two years of El Niño conditions seriously affecting the food chain starting with the kelp forests. The warmer than normal water over the past two years brought about an increase in sting ray populations and bottom animals are thought to be the main menu of juvenile Great Whites.
There is and has never been "culling" of either seals or sea lions in California - that is ridiculous and you'd be doing serious prison time for killing marine mammals here. Sharks are not stupid and they are not "mistaking" swimmers for sea lions. They are however quite curious and target of opportunity feeders. They have no moral qualms apparently when it comes to finding out if something might be good to eat. If you're unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - - - prayers for the poor gal who was bitten at SanO.
Big sharks could provide plenty of big shark steaks if you could hunt them.
As Pelham noted, sharks don’t mistake people for food, they just rarely encounter people in the water is all. If they do, they will eat you.
Never claimed that sea lions have ever been culled, merely a suggestion to help balance the shark population. My statement about sea lion population was a general statement not necessarily specific to Southern California. Here is a little source info so you can educate yourself:
* Population: The U.S. population of California sea lions is currently estimated at up to 300,000 animals, all on the Pacific coast. From an estimated population of about 10,000 animals in the 1950s, U.S. California sea lion numbers have grown rapidly since the 1970s and the species is now at “carrying capacity”—near the highest level the environment can sustain—according to wildlife biologists. A population survey conducted in 2006 by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) documented 1,200 California sea lions and 1,000 Steller sea lions near the mouth of the Columbia River alone.
Source:
* http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/sealions/facts.html
Ever since I was 10 and a saw JAWS, I have been terrified of sharks.
Bulls sharks are the worst. They just come back and back and back.
Tiger sharks and Great White sharks take a bite and then reject. Problem is... that one bite is often fatal.
This is whale migration season. Which means shark time. Look at the pretty water; don’t go in past your ankles.
Lots of surfers there all the time. All up and down the So Cal coast. I’m content with looking at the ocean from shore. Carlsbad is a nice place to do that. Sold the place though.
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