Texas shark attack victim breaks down the moment she kicked at beast after mistaking it for a ‘huge fish’ as she reveals the extent of her injuries
A mother whose calf was torn off by a shark on a Texas beach on July 4 has spoken out about the terrifying experience, saying she initially thought the predator was just a “huge fish.”
Tabatha Sullivent was in the water with her daughter and husband on South Padre Island when the shark began hunting them.
She said they had passed a sandbar when the shark followed her into shallow water and attacked her.
“I turned around and just saw this gray thing in the water. So I just kicked it, thinking it was a huge fish and it was coming toward us. Then I think it grabbed my leg,” Sullivent said. CBS News Texas from her hospital bed.
The bull shark, an animal with one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom, sank its teeth into her lower leg and had no intention of letting go.
Tabatha Sullivent sits in a hospital bed after her calf was bitten off by a bull shark. Her husband, who bravely fought the beast, sits next to her
Sullivent is seen falling into the ocean bleeding from her leg as the group that pulled her from the water surrounds her
Sullivent said her husband bravely resisted the beast, jumped into the water and grabbed her.
He was also bitten twice.
Beachgoers pulled her from the water and emergency workers quickly arrived to treat her gaping wound.
“If my husband and everyone else on the beach hadn’t stepped up, if there hadn’t been people pulling me out — not just pulling me out, but jumping between the shark and me — I don’t think it would have stopped,” she said.
In total, four people encountered the shark in the water, according to initial reports. The Sullivents were bitten and two others escaped with minor injuries.
Footage of the attack on social media shows Sullivent lying on the sand, his dorsal fin swimming back and forth along the shoreline.
Blood from her wound turns the water dark red as rescuers wrap a tourniquet around her leg.
Blood can be seen from her wound as the water washing up on the beach turns dark red as rescuers wrap a tourniquet around her leg
A dorsal fin can be seen swimming back and forth along the shoreline as the female lies on the sand
The incident happened Thursday morning on South Padre Island, Texas, and the woman had to be dragged to shore by a team of rescuers
“My leg is practically gone,” she said FOX Dallas-Fort Worth about a day after the attack.
“They washed it down today. It’s all the way to the bone. It didn’t go through the bone.”
Sullivent will require multiple reconstructive surgeries, but doctors are optimistic that she can save her leg and walk again.
“I have movement in my toes and in my ankle. My bone structure is good. I’m probably going to need physical therapy for sure,” Sullivent said.
The North Texas couple were celebrating their daughter Skylar’s 15th birthday on the day of the attack, and their 16th wedding anniversary was scheduled for the following day.
The Sullivents didn’t expect to spend their special day together in a hospital room, but they are happy to be alive and together.
“Someone or something was definitely watching us,” Sullivent said.
Sullivent said her bite was “all the way to the bone.”
Emergency services quickly arrived on scene to bring Sullivent to safety
Tabatha was taken to a nearby hospital where she is in stable condition. Her husband Cary Sullivan (right) remains by her side
Their daughter Skylar posted an update on her parents’ condition shortly after the attack.
“My mom is trying to get as much rest as possible and find her way forward. Recovery will be a long process, but I know she will get through it,” Skylar wrote on Facebook.
A GoFundMe page was recently set up to help fund the couple’s rebuilding efforts. Nearly $25,000 has already been raised, and the $30,000 goal is quickly being reached.
Because the shark posed a clear danger to anyone visiting the area’s beaches, local authorities wanted to tackle the predator as quickly as possible.
South Padre Island and Cameron County Parks officials located the shark, captured it and returned it to deeper water so it no longer poses an ongoing threat to beachgoers, KFDX-TV reported.
Helicopter footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows officers flying directly over the shark as it swims through shallow water immediately after the attack.
According to Captain Dowdy of Texas Parks and Wildlife, the animal was not injured during the operation to return it to the sea.
This image from the Texas Department of Public Safety shows a shark near the harbor in South Padre Island, Texas on Thursday, July 4, 2024.
The shark swims close to an incoming wave, shortly after biting two people and colliding with two others
Dowdy said the “unusual” attack was likely caused by weather changes from approaching Hurricane Beryl, which the National Hurricane Center said is expected to hit the Texas coast as a Category 1 hurricane sometime Monday.
Immediately after the attack, Texas Parks and Wildlife released a statement saying authorities were patrolling the beach by land, boat and air.
The city also considered closing the beach to the public completely.
In March, a 14-foot white shark was spotted near South Padre Island, a local radio station reported KNFM.
But since authorities are fairly confident that the culprit in the most recent attacks was a bull shark, it is likely that the great white shark was not involved.
This comes after two teenagers and a woman were attacked by a shark in Walton Beach, Florida, early last month.
Elisabeth Foley, the first shark attack victim in Florida’s Panhandle, is pictured at left
Lulu Gribbin was one of the teenage girls attacked by a shark in Florida last month. The bites were so severe that surgeons had to amputate her “right leg halfway from her knee to her hip,” according to a Facebook post by her mother
According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, 45-year-old Elisabeth Foley was bitten by the sea creature around 1:15 p.m. in the water near Watersound Way and Coopersmith Lane.
According to Ryan Crawford, fire chief of the South Walton Fire District, she suffered “serious injuries to her diaphragm and pelvic area and her left forearm was amputated.”
At around 3pm, authorities received reports of another shark attack on two teenage girls, aged 15 and 17. The attack had taken place four miles away.
The teens were later identified as Lulu Gribbin, who lost a hand and a leg, and McCray Faust, who suffered injuries to her foot.
All three victims, who were visiting the area from other states, were attacked while swimming near the sandbar.