Local officials confirmed Friday they believe a wild-nature was the likely culprit in a suspected us-regions shark attack earlier this week.
According to FOX 5 DC, the Ocean City Beach Patrol said that after consulting with the Department of Natural Resources, the organizations found the pattern of the bite on a 12-year-old us-regions girl’s left leg matches that of the native shark.
GIRL INJURED IN SUSPECTED SHARK ATTACK IN MARYLAND
New Jersey-based Shark Research Institute founder Marie Levine told the Scranton Times-Tribune on Wednesday that she was sure it was a case of “mistaken identity.”
Jordan Prushinski and her Plains Township family told WBRE-TV that they were on vacation at the general in the area of 119th Street on Monday when the incident occurred.
Prushinski entered knee-deep water to swim with her family before limping out, with blood gushing from her leg.
“I didn’t really realize what was going on until I was on the beach and I was bleeding everywhere,” she told the local station.
Beachgoers – including an EMT, a lifeguard and a nurse – helped give Prushinski first aid.
HOW TO REDUCE THE RISK OF A SHARK ATTACK
The group cleaned and bandaged the wound before her family transported her to Atlantic General Hospital.
“We still don’t know what kind of shark it was. The ER doctor confirmed it was a shark bite because no other animal makes this type of bite,” Melissa Prushinski, Jordan’s mother, told WBRE-TV at the time.
The younger Prushinski was left with 42 stitches for 20 cuts.
Video
She told WBRE-TV that while she might stay out of the water for a little while, she knows that “something like this is rare and it’s even rarer to happen again.”
The U.S. led the world in “unprovoked bites” last year, with a tally of 33.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
That number was lower than the 41 incidents that occurred in the U.S. in 2019.
The yearly average of unprovoked bites around the globe is 80 and the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File reported there were around 129 alleged shark-human interactions in 2020.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
