Hampton Beach Beats the Odds
Families gathered on a steamy July day at the beach, the hot grainy sand burning beneath the toes of little ones looking to quench their thirst with a dip in the ocean. But an unexpected and vicious shark lurked the waters, leaving behind nothing but clouds of blood and a deflated yellow raft washed up on the shore.
The recent shark attack left Hampton Beach citizens speechless and dumbfounded. The last shark attack to occur off the coast of New Hampshire was seventy five years ago, according to the spokesman to the New England Aquarium, Tony LaCasse.
The chances of a shark attack on the New Hampshire coast is close to none, LaCasse said. “You have a greater chance of being killed driving to the beach then ever being bothered by a shark,” he said. These slim chances are due to the fact that the deadliest types of sharks, including Bull sharks, Tiger sharks, and the Great White sharks, will almost never come up past the Long Island shore.
“Occasionally a Great White will pop in and out of the New Hampshire coast, but the most common is the Blue Shark which does not pose a threat to people,” LaCasse added. The Great White decided to “pop in” last week, after seventy five years of keeping its distance.
In “Beyond Jaws” in the Windsurfing Magazine, Elise MacGregor said that “drownings are 1,000 per every one shark attack in the United States”, compared with “600 to 1 in South Africa, and 50 to 1 in Australia”. People in New England are at greater risk of either drowning or getting in a car accident before a shark attack.
Although there are more species of sharks prevalent during the summertime, almost all are never seen in New Hampshire. It is expected that the Great White shark brought about the attack last week. Attacks to the head are rare, and usually consist of one massive and deadly bite to the victim, MacGregor said.
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