The New York Times – A 20-year-old woman was most likely bitten by a shark on Wednesday at Jones Beach on Long Island in what an official said was the first such attack of the season at a beach at a New York State park.
The woman was waist deep in the water at the Central Mall beachfront of Jones Beach State Park when she reported being bitten by “unknown marine wildlife,” the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation said in a statement on Friday.
The woman sustained minor cuts to her left foot and leg. Lifeguards and emergency workers responded, and the woman was transported to a hospital. Her injuries were not life-threatening, according to the statement.
She did not see what caused her injuries, but biologists from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation concluded that the bite “most likely” involved a juvenile sand tiger shark.
The bite was the first of the season at a New York State park beach and “hopefully the last,” George Gorman, a regional director for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, wrote in an email on Friday.
Swimming at Jones Beach was suspended for the rest of the day.
State biologists used photos of the woman’s injuries and information from people at the scene in their investigation. However, they did not see the animal that caused the bite, so a full consensus on the species of shark was not reached, according to the statement.
The bite in New York came after a flurry of recent shark attacks reported at vacation hot spots.
Sharks bit two people in their legs on Hilton Head Island, S.C., last week. One of the victims was a 12-year-old girl who was airlifted to a hospital in Savannah, Ga. …
