Shark bites surfer’s leg in rare attack off Oregon beach, rescuers say

A shark bit a surfer off the coast of Oregon in a rare attack Sunday afternoon, rescuers say.

“A shark just came up out of the water and it came up and spun around in the air and came back down and pushed him under water,” said Casey Weyer, who witnessed the attack on 20-year-old Cole Herrington, KGW reported.

Other surfers helped the man, who was bitten in the lower leg near Seaside Cove, make it to shore where an off-duty lifeguard applied a tourniquet to slow his bleeding, Seaside Fire & Rescue reported in a news release.

Rescuers took the surfer, a local resident, to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the release says. The incident took place about 3:20 p.m.

“From the pinky toe to the heel, starting from the middle up past his ankle is the largest injury,” said Amy Powell, Herrington’s mother, KGW reported. “And he’s got some other wounds to his leg where the teeth went through.”

Oregon has recorded 28 unprovoked shark attacks since 1837, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

The last shark sighting reported near Seaside happened in July, said Chris Havel of Oregon Parks and Recreation, KGW reported.

“Sharks are pretty well-tuned to what their prey food is and sometimes they’ll make a mistake and, for instance, a surfboard can mimic the outline speed of a seal or a sea lion,” Havel said, according to the station.

This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 9:59 AM with the headline "Shark bites surfer’s leg in rare attack off Oregon beach, rescuers say."