Shark attacks Australian surfer
19/12/2006 13:21  - (SA)  

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Sydney - A shark attacked a 25-year-old surfer off Australia's famous Bells Beach at dusk on Monday, mauling his left leg before the man managed to reach shore.

Peter Galvin was surfing a shallow reef called Winki Pop, just near the Bells surf break on Australia's south coast, when the shark attacked him from below, authorities said on Tuesday.

"The victim was sitting on his board with his legs dangling over the side and the shark has come up from underneath and grabbed his left leg in the calf and thigh area," senior police constable Lisa Kearney told local media.

Galvin received puncture wounds to the top of his calf and a major gash under his knee and, after being treated by fellow surfers on the beach, was flown to hospital in Melbourne where he was in a serious but stable condition.

Just over two weeks ago another surfer had his leg bitten off by a shark off a remote beach in Western Australia.

The US state of Florida annually records by far the most shark attacks. Between 1990 and 2005 there were 341 shark attacks off Florida, according to the US-based International Shark Attack File.

Over the same period Australia reported 74 attacks, South Africa 72, Brazil 62 and Hawaii 57.

But Australia, which has larger sharks like Great Whites in its cold southern waters, topped had 18 fatal attacks compared with Brazil's 13, South Africa's nine and Florida's four.

The International Shark Attack File estimates the odds of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 11.5 million.

But the latest attack in the southern state of Victoria has again sparked debate on whether to kill the attacking shark.

Sharks, even Great Whites, are a protected species in Australia.

Australia's peak surfing body wants the shark hunted down to stop it attacking again at the popular Bells surf break, which hosts a professional surfing contest each year.

"It is not a nice thing (to hunt down the shark), but I don't think any surfer wants it hanging around," said Steve Robertson from Surfing Australia.

But Victoria's state premier, Steve Bracks, ruled out hunting the shark. "The reality is that shark could be anywhere. There could be new sharks in the area," Bracks told reporters.

"The reality is that this is obviously a random attack and a regrettable one," he said.

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