There have been 11 shark attacks this year in the sea off North and South Carolina where warmer water is enticing fish closer to shore.
Four years ago teenager Cassidy Cartwright was boogie boarding with a friend when she was grabbed by the leg by a deadly shark who tried to pull her under the water.
It was only due to the quick-thinking of her mum that she survived and she still shudders as she remembers her own terrifying encounter with one of these monsters from the deep, after being left too traumatised even to go paddling.
She said: “I can’t imagine ever going back into the sea – not even to go paddling.
“We have a big fresh water lake near my house which I swim in, but I still get really anxious when I go in too deep.”
When news of the three-time world surfing champ Mick Fanning miraculously survived a shark attack in South Africa, by punching the monster on the nose, it was like a scene from ‘Jaws’ emerged it was a horrific reminder of how confident sharks can get.
And 14-year-old Cassidy, from Erie, Pennsylvania, is lucky to still have her leg after her own attack at the current shark hot-spot in the US.
Cassidy and her mum Carolyn, 44, were staying in a beach-house by the ocean in North Carolina when the shark struck, on the first full day of their summer holiday on June 25 2011.
HR manager Carolyn had been on the deck with her friend, Dave, while her daughter and a school pal, Caitlyn, enjoyed boogie boarding in the sea.
Carolyn said: “I eventually grabbed my own board and decided to join them.
“Suddenly I heard Cassidy on my left go ‘Ouch!’ like she’d stepped on something.
“The water was murky and up to my hips, so I couldn’t see what was happening.
“Then Cassidy seemed to fall over, and I reached down to pick her up. A moment later, she fell again –that’s when I realised she was getting pulled down by something.
“At this stage she was screaming at the top of her voice. When I pulled her back up a second time, her eyes were filled with terror. I’ll never forget it.”
When Carolyn pulled her daughter back up a second time, she saw the sea around them turning red with the terrified girl’s blood.
Hearing her distressed screams, Dave ran into the ocean and helped her drag injured Cassidy out.
“The back of her right leg around the calf area looked like a bomb had exploded,” she said.
“The wound was pumping out blood. I knew we had to get help or she’d bleed out on me, right there on the sand.
“I thought, ‘She’s definitely going to lose that leg.’
“ It was like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.”
A neighbour called emergency services, while Carolyn wrapped a makeshift tourniquet around her daughter’s mutilated limb.
Shock and adrenalin prevented Cassidy from realising how serious her injuries were.
She said: “I wasn’t actually in a lot of pain, as the whole area where I was bitten went numb. My mum kept talking to me and I focused on her– that helped a lot”.
Airlifted to hospital, she underwent emergency surgery and, remarkably, doctors were able to save her leg.
She said: “It was a blur, really. It all happened so fast. I didn’t even know I’d been attacked by a shark.
“It was confirmed after the operation, when doctors told me they’d found a tooth still embedded in my leg.”
The tooth was later analysed and found to be that of a bull shark – one of the most aggressive shark species.
Cassidy spent five days in hospital and it took a further year for her to get back on her feet without crutches – although she’s made a full recovery and even belongs to a marching band.
But her mum took ages to overcome the trauma.
She said: “I couldn’t get the images of the attack out of my mind. It was there every time I closed my eyes. But we focused on getting Cassidy back on her feet.
“She’s had ups and downs throughout her recovery. There were times she said she wanted her leg cut off due to the pain. But she got through them - she’s a real trooper.”
When Sharks Attack: In Shallow Water premieres Wednesday 5th August 7pm and When Sharks Attack: California Killer premieres Wednesday 5 August 8pm, both on Nat Geo WILD.
