Animal control officials revealed to a terrified public the fate of the shark that injured two people on a Texas beach on July 4.
The attack occurred Thursday morning on South Padre Island, Texas. The woman who was bitten in the leg had to be pulled to shore by a team of rescuers.
After the bloody incident, South Padre Island and Cameron County Parks officials located the shark, captured it and returned it to deeper water so it would no longer pose an ongoing threat to beachgoers, KFDX-TV reported.
New 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 identified as a bull shark and was not injured during the recovery operation.
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.
Bull sharks can grow up to 3.5 meters long and have one of the most powerful bites in the animal kingdom, more powerful per kilo than the infamous great white shark.
In total, four people encountered the shark in the water, according to initial reports. Two people were bitten and two people escaped with minor injuries.
One woman had a serious wound to her leg.
Footage of the attack shows the woman lying on the sand with her 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
Because of the shark, officers deployed drones, boats and helicopters to locate the predator and the city also considered closing the beach
The woman was later identified as Tabatha Sullivent, who was in the water with her daughter and husband when the shark attacked them.
She said they were past a sandbar when the shark followed her into shallow water and bit her calf, but her husband Cary managed to fight off the shark.
“I turned around and saw something dark in the water. And I thought it was a big fish, and I wanted to kick it away. Then it grabbed me,” Sullivent said FOX Dallas-Fort Worth from a hospital bed.
The shark bit off her calf.
“My leg is pretty much gone,” she said. “They flushed it today. It’s all the way to the bone. It didn’t go through the bone.”
Her husband was also bitten in the attack, but his injuries were minor in comparison.
“If it wasn’t for my husband and everyone on the beach, if it wasn’t for 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.
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 said that if her husband had not taken action, along with everyone else on the beach who pulled her in, the shark likely would not have stopped attacking her
Tabatha was taken to a nearby hospital where she is in stable condition. Her husband Cary Sullivan (right) remains by her side
The couple were at the beach to celebrate their daughter Skylar’s 15th birthday.
Skylar has set up a GoFundMe fundraising page to raise money for her mother’s recovery. So far, more than $4,600 has been donated.
Their daughter Skylar Sullivent shared an update on their condition on Facebook later that evening.
“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.
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’s likely that this great white shark was not involved.
Elisabeth Foley, the victim of a shark attack in Florida’s panhandle in June, is pictured at left. Part of her arm had to be amputated
Lulu Gribbin was one of the teenage girls attacked by a shark just hours after Foley was bitten. 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 written by her mother
This comes after two teenagers and a woman were attacked by a shark in Walton Beach, Florida, early last month.
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.