A SURFER has revealed how a bull shark nearly bit off his foot – but he’s still not afraid of the ferocious predators and will be heading back into the ocean.
Jeremy Carr, 41, was hitting the waves when a shark clamped on his foot, leaving nothing to hold it together except “some bones”.
The aquarium engineer got up before sunrise to enjoy the waves when he was attacked.
And when he got out of the water he saw his foot had been shredded by the bite, which is believed to have been the handiwork for a bull shark.
Pictures taken from his hospital bed show his foot hanging on by a thread after the bite.
Bull sharks are one the deadliest species of the sea creatures – known for being aggressive and swimming in shallow warm waters.
But Jeremy said when he felt the bite he first thought it was just a smaller fish, like a grouper or tarpon as he swam off the coast of Florida.
“I hopped off my board and pulled myself back on, and the shark came up and just bit my left foot, and then spat me back out,” Jeremy told The Sun Online.
“The teeth were so sharp that when it bit, it almost felt like a fish had bit me because there was big pressure on both sides of my feet.”
He added: “I started to paddle in and there was a guy paddling back out and I was like ‘hey man, how’s my foot doing?’
“He was like ‘I don’t know’ and he kind of looked at me with this blank look on his face and kind of ignored me so I thought ‘okay, it must not be that bad.’”
But when Jeremy paddled back to shore, only then did he realise the how bad the bite was as he foot was left a mangled mess.
Despite his brush with the shark’s razor teeth, Jeremy is determined to return to the ocean and harbours no bad feelings for the animals.
He said: “When I got into the shore to take my first step – thinking nothing was really wrong – there was nothing holding my foot together except some bones, and I just collapsed to the ground and started crawling towards the parking lot.
It was shredded, had broken bones, they did a really good job putting me back togetherJeremy Carr
“Luckily one of my friends saw me crawling and came over. That’s when I knew I was in trouble.”
The paramedics from the nearby fire station attended to Jeremy’s wound, using a towel and a surf leash to wrap his leg to reduce the bleeding after the attack on August 21.
When they got to the hospital and unravelled the leash, Jeremy was rushed into surgery not before the nurse took a picture of the bite and he got to see the damage.
“When I finally got to see the shark bite – because of my background [in marine biology] – I could tell based on the pictures that we took, that the shape of the teeth, and the spacing between the teeth.
“The fact that the bite mark on the top of my foot had teeth marks and the bottom was serrated, it was a bull shark.
“Given the shape and the spacing and everything, it gave an indication it was about a five foot bull shark. If it was any bigger, or had shaken my foot, it would have been a lot worse.”
Jeremy remained in hospital for five days, receiving surgery three days after his first.
“The biggest part about shark bites is not necessarily the shark bite that is bad, it’s the secondary infections that occur afterwards,” he said.
“It was shredded, had broken bones, they did a really good job putting me back together.”
Jeremy has since been resting at home and completing physical therapy.
But despite the wound leaving him bed bound for two months, he has made a significant recovery.
“My doctor said he expects to see me walking into his office on December 21. I’m already walking,” he added.
“At the moment I can’t do certain things but I’m hoping at least by February I’ll be able to do more.”
But Jeremy has already defied the doctors expectations and has already been out for a paddle on the board.
While he can’t stand up yet, he’s in no way letting his encounter stop him from doing what he loves.
“It hasn’t changed my perception [of sharks],” he said.
“They’re important, I was in their territory. I feel like people should pay more attention and not be scared. They’re very important to the eco-system.”
