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American Morning

Are Florida Swimmers Safe from Shark Attacks?

Aired July 17, 2001 - 09:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a story that has caught the attention of beachgoers across the country, recent shark attacks in Florida have some of the beachgoers there keeping a careful watch.

For the latest, let's go to our Gary Tuchman who is in Pensacola, Florida, on the beach.

Gary, good morning.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

It was two days ago that just a few miles behind me a 48-year-old surfer was bitten by a shark. It was 11 days ago that a few miles in front of me an 8-year-old boy was attacked by a shark. That boy, Jessie Arbogast, is doing very well, considering what he went through. Doctors are telling us he remains in critical but stable condition. He had some complications yesterday, some internal bleeding, but doctors say that is normal, considering what this little boy has gone through. They say he's in a light coma, but he is responsive in some ways and they expect he will recover and that he may not have any brain damage whatsoever. That was a concern earlier.

He was attacked by a 7-foot bull shark. It's an incredible story. His uncle wrestled the shark and got the boy's arm back that was bitten off and the arm has been reattached.

Meanwhile, that other incident two days ago, a 48-year-old surfer was out in the water. He said he saw a shark. All of a sudden the shark grabbed his leg. He has injuries to his leg and his foot. He had surgery yesterday. He's now out of the hospital, but he says he actually took his surfboard and attacked the shark with it.

So here we have two shark incidents in the last 11 days in the very same county, Escambia County, Florida, on the very same beach, Pensacola Beach. How unusual is that? Well, it's important to put the numbers into context. Across the world, 79 unprovoked attacks in the year 2000, but there were 55 in the United States. And 34 of those 79 worldwide were here in the state of Florida. So you take that number, 34 in Florida, and you break it down. That's about one shark attack every 11 days in the state of Florida. So we've had three in 11 days because there was also one in Jacksonville a couple of days ago - near Jacksonville. So that's more than the average but that's not so unusually more. So keep that in mind. You should not be panicked by this. This does happen occasionally, although it's very rare.

So here are some tips: When you go in the water, when you go in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, don't go into dirty water. Also, stay away from where people fish. And the final thing is, if you see schools of fish swimming erratically, get out of the water.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Gary Tuchman in Pensacola, thank you.

Also want to tell our viewers that we're going to have more on shark attacks later this hour. We'll be talking to the director of the International Shark Attack File.

And tonight, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN will bring you a special. We're calling it "When Sharks Attack."

Plus, you can visit our Web site for the latest on the dangers. The address there is CNN.com. AOL keyword: CNN.

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