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Retired San Diego animal doctor attacked & killed by Great White Shark!

Jawshark News....

Friday April 25th   Solan Beach, California USA~

Tragedy struck the community of Solana Beach in North County San Diego yesterday when Dr. David Martin a local retired veterinarian and member of the Triathalon Club of San Diego was attacked and killed by a large marine animal as he swam in the ocean with a group of nine of his club mates at approximately 7:10 am. The group was swimming roughly 150 yards (50 meters) off shore about a quarter mile north of Fletcher Cove near Tide Park.

No one else with Dr. Martin was attacked in the incident. Eyewitnesses say he was swimming somewhere near the rear and center of his swim club group as he was pulled violently down by something in the ocean. The ocean began to turn red before he reappeared and yelled out to the other swimmers for help.

Courageously the other swimmers stopped and helped him back to shore where local life guards tried desperately to save Dr. Martin's life. Dr. Martin died at approximately 7:49 am of shock & heart failure due directly to massive leg trauma resulting in a complete loss of blood from his body (exsanguination).

Retired shark expert Dr. Richard Rosenblatt was called to the scene to examine Dr. Martin and at 9am gave a press statement to local news reporters.

Dr. Rosenblatt stated that after examining his wounds and measuring the width of the bite area he concluded Dr. Martin was attacked by a Great White Shark measuring somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-15 feet (4-5 meters).

"The type of trauma this victim's legs sustained is consistent with that of a Great White Shark" he said.

Helicopters searched the area a few miles outward from the scene looking for the shark but none was found.

According to Scott Bass, who was on a long distance paddle nearby at the time of the attack, "While I was on my way back home during the paddle, a helicopter came crawling out of nowhere screaming over the ocean, ‘There has been a fatal shark attack in the area! Exit the ocean! There has been a fatal shark attack in the area. Exit the ocean!’”

According to Del Mar lifeguards, the victim’s legs were both shredded severely leaving a twenty two inch bite mark on his body. As a preventative measure, the coastal beaches of San Diego from Torrey Pines to South Carlsbad have been closed for the weekend.

“It’s pretty spooky,” says Bass. “The entire coast of San Diego from Del Mar to Encinitas is empty right now. It’s surreal.”

Local surfers in the area were warned not to enter the water but some promptly ignored the warnings.

Posted Saturday April 26th 2008  

Article composed by Jawshark.com based on TV news reports and some commentary from Surfermag.com

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dr. Martin's family and friends at this time. ~Jawshark.com

Editor's comments:

This story is very similar to another person killed off the coast of California in 2003, Deborah Franzman. She was also swimming right off the beach and was attacked in the same manner and died the exact same way as Dr. Martin. Great Whites aren't used to encountering people in the water so it's critical you do everything you can to not appear like food to them. Unfortunately for us we are large enough to be easily mistaken for their favorite food...seal and sea lion. Especially when wearing a dark wetsuit. A black wetsuit with red highlights just contributes to a potential mistaken attack as the shark may have thought Dr. Martin was already wounded. Who knows what was going through the shark's mind?

As I recall from the Franzman reports she was also dressed in a black wetsuit. As was another fatality in the 1980's...Omar Conger. There is no reason to believe these sharks are color blind. Someone should do a bit more research and design a wetsuit with less attractive colors for Great Whites. Maybe a coral pattern of canary yellow and neon orange instead of "pinniped" black with red highlights. On second thought chances are it would do no good, as most of these attacks come from below with the target silhouetted against the sky. The shark sees shape and not color at this point.

Also, it seems immediately after the attack the Great White realized Dr. Martin was not his usual prey. So he left him and the rest of them alone from further attack. A tragic but honest mistake on the sharks part it seems. Just another indication that Great Whites are NOT the mindless, relentless killers they have been portrayed as in the past. If that were so the news would of reported at least 6 of the 9 Triathalon Club members dead or wounded. Maybe all of them since they were out beyond the break.

What astonishes me is the fact that more people haven't been attacked since the last San Diego attack in 1994 of Michelle Von Emster. It is a known fact that these sharks migrate from San Francisco and the Farallon Island down to Guadalupe Island, Mexico and over to Hawaii. They cruise on the surface down to thousands of feet deep covering hundreds of miles over a period of weeks.  I wasn't surprised the San Diego helicopters didn't sight the shark. If he had taken Dr. Martin and actually consumed him, then I would be worried. That might be enough for the shark to stay for a few days. As it is the shark is more than likely moving on towards Catalina Island, Northern California or Mexico.

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South African Surfer escapes Great White Shark attack with his life

Bonza Beach, South Africa Nov 2007

Lee Mellin, a South African surfer was recovering in hospital yesterday after being attacked by a Great White shark – just hours before the movie Jaws was being rebroadcast on national TV.

The Steven Spielberg movie Jaws is about a US resort being forced to close its beaches after a Great White attacks bathers.

The shark, believed to be a Great White, shattered Lee's surf board and left a 15-inch wound down his thigh in the attack at Bonza Bay.

“The doctor said I’m the luckiest shark attack victim he has ever seen and I definitely agree,” said Mellin, 37, pointing at his bandaged left thigh yesterday. 

Speaking from his hospital bed, Mellin said it was his “survivor’s instinct” that saved his life. 

He remained conscious throughout the attack and yesterday gave a vivid account of his encounter with the Great White – even though it all happened “within a split second”.

Mellin and his friend, Leigh Stolworthy, were riding the waves at about 8:45am on Saturday when they saw this “big fish” close by. 

“There was nothing we could do,” he said. “It just popped up between us.”

Although in pain and still counting his “lucky stars”, Mellin managed to joke and laugh about the attack:

“There was this massive white shark bursting out of the water, real Jaws-like …

“It obviously gave one look at Leigh thinking he didn’t have enough meat, so he went at me.

“It was a flippin’ big thing.

“ I was still on my board and it came for me.

“I just felt its jaws sinking in ...

“I think the shark’s teeth got stuck in the surfboard. It then took another bite, but by then I let go of my board. 

“It just bit the board again.”

Mellin, son of retired newspaper photographer Rob Mellin, said he started to panic and remembered screaming and shouting at Stolworthy: “Help me!”

“It all happened in … seconds.

“Afterwards we got onto our boards and paddled back.

“I was worried it would come back and strike again, but Leigh kept assuring me that it was nowhere in sight.”

They rushed to the hospital where Mellin was taken into the operating room for stitches.

Mellin, who has been surfing most of his life, said it was simply a case of being at the “wrong place at the wrong time”.

Stolworthy said he was also “lucky to be alive”.

“It was really close,” he recalled. “I was looking at it all the time and thinking: This can’t be for real!”

Mellin’s surfboard was bitten in two and teeth marks left on the two parts were evidence of the size of the shark.

The two surfers think the shark was about 10 feet long, and Mellin reckoned the dorsal fin was about 16 inches tall.

Buffalo City marine services chief Siani Tinley said it was likely the shark was a Great White but tests on the teeth marks on the surfboard and Mellin’s wound would confirm the species.

Tinley added that the clean and cold seawater was conducive to Great White feeding conditions.

Bonza Bay, Nahoon and Gonubie beach were closed with shark warnings on Saturday, but re-opened after 8am yesterday.

Both Mellin and Stolworthy told of seeing sharks before but they had never had a close encounter.

However, they agreed they will soon be back in the water – surfing, of course.

Article courtesy Underwater Times News Service

Older Great White Shark Attack News

Dolphins save surfer from becoming shark’s bait

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007

Surfer Todd Endris needed a miracle. The shark — a monster great white that came out of nowhere — had hit him three times, peeling the skin off his back and mauling his right leg to the bone.

That’s when a pod of bottlenose dolphins intervened, forming a protective ring around Endris, allowing him to get to shore, where quick first aid provided by a friend saved his life.

“Truly a miracle,” Endris told TODAY’s Natalie Morales on Thursday

The attack occurred at Marina State Park Monterey, Calif., where the 24-year-old owner of Monterey Aquarium Services had gone with friends for a day of surfing. Nearly four months later, Endris, who is still undergoing physical therapy to repair muscle damage suffered during the attack, is back in the water and on his board in the same spot where he almost lost his life.

The dolphins, which had been cavorting in the surf all along, showed up then. They circled him, keeping the shark at bay, and enabled Endris to get back on his board and catch a wave to the shore.

Our finned friends....No one knows why dolphins protect humans, but stories of the marine mammals rescuing humans go back to ancient Greece, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Perhaps it's a natural altruistic impulse possessed by the waterborne mammals to try to protect and preserve another mammal's life.

A year ago in New Zealand, the group reports, four lifeguards were saved from sharks in the same way Endris was — by dolphins forming a protective ring.

First reported by By Mike Celizic - www.TODAYShow.com contributor and revised by me.

Hear the Todd Endris Great White Shark Attack story in it's entirety here.

Aussie Ben Morcom attacked by a Great White Dec 18th 2007