Eye Gouge vs. Shark
Plucky Aussie swimmer pokes a Great White in the eye and lives. The Australian:
SHARK attack survivor Jason Cull yesterday spoke of being dragged backwards through the water by a 4m great white as he tried to escape its jaws.
The teacher finally freed himself by poking the shark in the eye after it attacked him at a popular West Australian beach on Saturday morning.
The 37-year-old was swimming with dolphins off Albany’s Middleton Beach about 7.30am when the shark moved in and bit his thigh.
“Initially, I thought it was a dolphin,” he said from his Albany hospital bed yesterday. “I just saw this grey shape coming towards me. But when it came up and banged straight into me, I knew it was a shark. I was more concerned about getting out of its mouth because it was dragging me backwards underwater.
“I just remember being dragged along backwards. I was trying to feel for its gills but I found its eye and I stuck my finger in and that’s when it let go.”
The shark, believed to be a great white, tore two chunks from his left leg, ripping off half of his calf and leaving him with deep lacerations to his knee and thigh. Mr Cull, a father of two, told the PerthNow website the great white continued to circle as he tried to swim back to shore.
Local surf lifesaver Joanne Lucas, 50, heard Mr Cull’s screams and raced into the water.
“I just saw someone thrashing in the water and saying ‘help me, help me’,” she said. “Instinct just kicked in. I raced down and got in the water and just before I got to him he said: ‘It’s got my leg’. I grabbed him and swam back into shore. I was thinking ‘I’ve got to get him in before it comes back’. I was thinking ‘I have to beat the shark back to shore’.”
Mr Cull said he was glad Ms Lucas reached him when she did. “I do not think I would have made it the rest of the way,” he said. “At this stage, I’m just grateful that the shark didn’t come back for seconds.”
Fighting off a four-meter shark with an eye gouge is pretty good. This part’s better. Ms. Lucas who dove in to get him is a 50-year-old mum of three.
News.com.au has the vid.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:57 pm on Monday, May 12, 2008
2 Responses to “Eye Gouge vs. Shark”
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May 12th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Stay away from Dolphins. The sharks regard them as bait.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Mrs. Lucas is the kind of person who makes you believe in humanity. Good on her.