A man in his 50s was surfing off Kangaroo Island when he was bitten twice by a shark, believed to be a Bronze Whaler, on Tuesday afternoon. The incident occurred at a spot known locally as 'The Sewer' in D'Estrees Bay on the island's southern coastline.
According to Shark Watch SA, a community social media page, the shark was chasing a seal when the seal used the surfer as a decoy. The man, named Lee, was bitten on the leg and drove himself to Kingscote Hospital for treatment. Police later attended the beach to ensure no one else entered the water.
Craig Wickham, Lee's boss and a local tour operator, said Lee was in good shape the morning after the attack. 'He got a fairly deep laceration on his calf, he was all stitched up by probably 8:30, 9:00 last night,' Wickham told ABC Radio Adelaide.
The encounter was captured on video and shared on social media. Wickham described the scene: 'It seems there was a young sealion that was a little smarter than the surfers. It ducked in behind, and the shark took a bit of a nip of [his] leg rather than the sealion.'
Kangaroo Island Mayor Michael Pengilly expressed relief that the surfer was recovering well. 'I think we've been very lucky. The fellow concerned has had a lucky escape,' he said, adding that shark numbers had been affected by algal bloom but that sharks were still present.
