A mother whose baby was ripped from her grasp by a shark on a Texas beach on July 4 has spoken out about the terrifying experience, saying she first thought the predator was just a “huge fish.”
Tabatha Sullivent was in the water at South Padre Island with her daughter and husband when the shark began hunting them.
She said they were beyond a sandbank when the shark followed her into shallow water and attacked her.
“I turned around and all I saw was this grey thing in the water. So I kicked it because I thought it was a huge fish and it was coming towards us. That’s when I think it grabbed my leg,” Sullivent said. CBS Texas News from his hospital bed.
The bull shark, a creature with one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom, sank its teeth into her lower leg with no intention of letting go.
Tabatha Sullivent sits in a hospital bed after being bitten on the calf by a bull shark. Her husband, who bravely fought off the beast, sits beside her.
Sullivent is seen bleeding from her leg in the ocean as the group that pulled her out of the water surrounds her.
Sullivent said her husband bravely fought off the beast, jumping into the water and grabbing it.
In the process, he was also bitten twice.
Bathers pulled her out of the water and emergency services soon arrived to treat her open wound.
“If my husband hadn’t stepped in and everyone else on the beach, if there hadn’t been people pulling me out, not just pulling me out but jumping between me and the shark, I don’t think it would have stopped,” she said.
In total, four people encountered the shark in the water, according to initial reports. The Sullivents were bitten and two others escaped with minor injuries.
Footage of the attack posted on social media shows Sullivent lying on the sand while a dorsal fin can be seen swimming back and forth near the shore.
Blood from his wound can be seen staining the water a dark red as rescuers place a tourniquet around his leg.
Blood from his wound can be seen staining the waters reaching the beach a dark red as lifeguards place a tourniquet around his leg.
A dorsal fin can be seen swimming back and forth near the shore as the woman lies on the sand.
The incident occurred on South Padre Island, Texas, on Thursday morning and the woman had to be pulled to shore by a team of rescuers.
“My leg is practically gone,” he said. FOX Dallas-Fort Worth Approximately one day after the attack.
“They took it out today. It went all the way to the bone. It didn’t go through the bone.”
Sullivent will need multiple reconstructive surgeries, but doctors are optimistic he will be able to keep his leg and walk again.
“I have movement in my toes and ankle. My bone structure is fine. I’ll probably need physical therapy,” Sullivent said.
The North Texas couple was celebrating their daughter Skylar’s 15th birthday the day of the attack, and their 16th anniversary was supposed to be the following day.
The Sullivans didn’t expect to spend their special day together in a hospital room, but they’re just happy to be alive and together.
“Someone or something was definitely looking out for us,” Sullivent said.
Sullivent said his bite was “all the way to the bone.”
First responders quickly arrived on scene to bring Sullivent to safety.
Tabatha was taken to a nearby hospital where she is in stable condition. Her husband Cary Sullivent (right) remains by her side.
Their daughter Skylar posted an update on her parents’ condition shortly after the attack.
“My mom is trying to rest as much as she can and think about the road ahead. Recovery will be a long process, but I know she will get through it,” Skylar wrote on Facebook.
A GoFundMe page was recently created to help fund the couple’s recovery and has already raised nearly $25,000, quickly approaching its $30,000 goal.
Given the clear threat the shark posed to anyone frequenting area beaches, local officials were keen to deal with the predator immediately.
South Padre Island and Cameron County Parks officials located the shark, hooked it and moved it to deeper waters so it would not be a constant threat to beachgoers, KFDX-TV reported.
Helicopter footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows officials flying directly over the shark as it swims in shallow water just after the attack.
The animal was not harmed or physically injured during the return operation, according to Capt. Dowdy of Texas Parks and Wildlife.
This image provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows a shark near the shoreline at South Padre Island, Texas, on Thursday, July 4, 2024.
The shark swims right near an incoming wave, shortly after biting two people and encountering two others.
Dowdy said the “unusual” attack was likely caused by weather changes brought on by Hurricane Beryl, which is expected to hit the Texas coast sometime Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Immediately after the attack, Texas Parks and Wildlife released a statement informing beachgoers that authorities were patrolling the beach by land, boat and air.
The city also considered closing the beach entirely to the public.
In March, a 14-foot great white shark was spotted near South Padre Island, according to the local radio station. KNFM.
But since officials are reasonably certain that the culprit in the most recent attacks was a bull shark, it’s likely that the great white shark was not involved.
This comes after two teenagers and a woman were attacked by a shark earlier last month in Walton Beach, Florida.
Elisabeth Foley, the first victim of a shark attack in the Florida Panhandle, is pictured left.
Lulu Gribbin was one of the teenagers attacked by a shark last month in Florida. The bites were so severe that surgeons had to amputate her “right leg halfway down, from the knee to the hip,” according to a Facebook post written by her mother.
According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, Elisabeth Foley, 45, was bitten by the marine animal in the water near Watersound Way and Coopersmith Lane around 1:15 p.m.
He suffered “significant trauma to his midsection and pelvic area and amputation of his left arm,” according to South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford.
Around 3 p.m., officials responded to calls of another shark attack on two female teenagers, ages 15 and 17, that occurred four miles from the first attack.
The teens were later identified as Lulu Gribbin, who lost a hand and a leg, and McCray Faust, who suffered injuries to his foot.
The three victims, who were visiting the area from other states, were attacked while swimming near the sandbar.
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