Louisiana: Shark Attacks Boy in Lake Pontchartain

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Simply because you’re in fresh water don’t assume you are safe from prowling sharks.  A screaming 7-year-old boy was pulled from Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana last week, his left foot oozing blood. It wasn’t until he calmed down enough to stop screaming that he managed to explain that something had hit and then charged him in the water, biting so hard he had to kick to get it off.

In this Aug. 7, 2013, photo provided by Christine Shepard, a bull shark is pulled toward a boat for sampling and measuring during a shark tagging expedition off Islamorada in the Florida Keys.   (AP Photo/Courtesy Christine Shepard)
In this Aug. 7, 2013, photo provided by Christine Shepard, a bull shark is pulled toward a boat for sampling and measuring during a shark tagging expedition off Islamorada in the Florida Keys. (AP Photo/Courtesy Christine Shepard)

While he was doubtful at first, a man who tags sharks for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says when he saw the kid’s foot he knew: “Without a doubt, it’s a bull shark—probably around 5 feet,” he told Nola.com. Bull sharks are known to attack humans from time to time.

While many boaters, swimmers, and fishermen don’t realize there are sharks in Lake Pontchartrain, there are plenty. That’s because the 630-square-mile lake is misleadingly named; it’s not a true lake, but rather an estuary that feeds into the Gulf of Mexico, where salt and fresh waters mingle, according to SaveOurLake.org. That doesn’t make the boy’s mom any less stunned. “We’ve been swimming in the lake forever,” she tells WWLTV. “You don’t think something like that will happen.” The bites were deep, but the boy is expected to recover.

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9 years ago

I remember as a kid swimming and surfing in Cornwall. One day a school of Dolphins came in and we swam about, grabbing their fins and being pulled along. The next day we went back and some chap was sailing along holding a fin. When he let go and came ashore some Cornish old sailor like chap said “That wasn’t a Dolphin mate”

When we looked back to sea it was so clear we could actually see he’d been hanging onto a sharks fin!

No idea what kind but sod that for a lark!

Bill Formby
Reply to  Norman Rampart
9 years ago

uh, Yeah, dolphins do not exist in fresh water, only a couple of types of sharks. Of course there are some very large fresh water fish also. There have been catfish caught that weighed more than 500 pounds. It is even speculate that some alligator gar in the U.S. have been measure at more than 6 feet and weighed more than 200 pounds.

Timmy Mahoney
9 years ago

I once answered a call from a guy who wanted confirmation that he had caught a shark in the Missouri and this was in North St. Louis County. Fish and Game answered as well and it was a confirmed bull shark.

Bill Formby
9 years ago

It is not only a unique thing to find sharks in this lake but Bull Sharks often swim up many of the rivers which exit into the sea. They can exist in fresh water as well salt water. They have been found well up into rivers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and even on the Atlantic Coastline. In fact, one the first observations of this was in a small river in New Jersey. Bull Sharks are aggressive and will attack humans if they happen to be in their area. They can grow up to nine feet and weigh up to 600 pounds.

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