Shark Attack Victim Stabs Shark, Stitches Himself Up, Goes for Beer
On Saturday, a man successfully fought off a large shark, stabbing it with his knife, but not before he suffered a deep bite to his leg. Then he did what anyone would do: He swam to shore, stitched himself up, and had a beer at bar before finally going to the hospital.
James Grant, a doctor from New Zealand, was spearfishing in about six feet of water when a sevengill shark bit into his leg.
At first, he thought it might have been a friend pulling a prank. "I looked behind to see who it was and got a bit of a shock," he told Radio New Zealand. Realizing it was a shark and not his friend, he pulled his knife and stabbed at the shark.
"[I thought] bugger, now I have to try and get this thing off my leg," he said. "I am not sure how effective it was. I guess it let go so something must have happened, put a few nicks in it."
The shark swam off, and so did Grant, returning to shore where he quickly took off his wetsuit. He saw a row of teeth marks had punctured his leg, wounds that would've been worse if he hadn't been wearing the 7 mm thick wetsuit. He tried to wave his friends to shore but they thought he was kidding.
"I thought surely he hasn't been bitten, there's no way he has been bitten, he's got to be taking the piss," one friend told Radio New Zealand.
So Grant, left wounded and alone by his worthless friends, had to be resourceful. Using the thread and needle from his first aid kit, which he keeps for his hunting dogs, he sewed up his wound and walked to a nearby tavern where he was given a beer and a bandage.
Not long after, someone finally took him to Southland Hospital—where he works—so his wounds could be properly cleaned and stitched. Despite the brush with death, Grant is anxious to get back to fishing.
"When the stitches come out, I will be back in the water," Grant said.
