A surfer who was bitten on the leg by a shark says he is lucky to be alive.
Ryan Lowther, 41, said it felt like “a razor blade clamp went through my leg” when he was bitten about 40 metres from the shore at Perth’s Trigg Beach on Wednesday afternoon.
He was catching his last wave of the day when he was bitten so hard that part of the shark’s tooth became lodged in his lower leg.
He said he didn’t see the shark coming when he bravely returned to the scene of the ordeal on Thursday.
“I felt a crack in my leg and it felt like razor blades had been stuck in me,” Lowther said. Seven news.
‘I crouched down and as I was coming back up to jump on my board, I felt something catch on my leg.
‘I was in a bit of shock… I dived in on my board and caught the wave. I pulled up my wetsuit and there was blood everywhere.
‘I said to a kid next to me, “I just got bitten by a shark.”
Ryan Lowther (pictured later in hospital) said the shark felt like he had “razor blades stuck in his leg” when it bit him at Trigg Beach.
He said the incident left him feeling “super shaken.”
Mr Lowther got out of the water as quickly as he could and after seeing his wetsuit covered in blood, he made his way to Sir Charles Gardener Hospital.
“They did an X-ray, found a tooth there, cleaned it up, gave me antibiotics, then sent me home, they think I’ll be fine,” he said.
Mr Lowther said having the shark tooth still in his leg was “not ideal” but he was hopeful it would eventually come out so he could keep it as a souvenir.
He admitted he was “nervous” about getting back in the water and said he feels lucky to have survived.
“I’m glad it wasn’t a bigger shark and I can still have two feet, that’s a victory,” he said.
Mr Lowther went to Sir Charles Gardener’s Hospital where he was treated by doctors.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development reported The West that ‘the shark is supposed to be small in size’.
The public is urged to take extreme caution in the Trigg Beach area.
Experts are now examining the wetsuit to determine the species and size of the shark that bit him.
It was not Mr Lowther’s first terrifying encounter with a shark.
He was surfing at Perth City Beach three years ago when his friends on the shore shouted to him that there was a large shark fin lurking behind him.
Surfer Ryan Lowther (pictured) admitted he is nervous about getting back in the water.
