'My first reaction was this can't be real. That's really a shark'
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Tom Kennedy said he started swimming for his life after a 10-foot tiger shark took a bite out of his left leg.
“I knew that I only had one way to possibly survive, and that was to get away and get to my board,” Kennedy said.
The 61-year-old Lake Oswego man was on vacation with his family in Maui. He said he joked with his family and friends about a shark attack before they went out for some snorkeling and paddle boarding in a cove on West Maui’s Kihei Beach.
“Not seriously. It wasn’t anything we were really concerned about,” he said.
The jokes turned into a serious reality on Friday, when a 10-foot tiger shark took a piece out of Kennedy’s left leg.
“I was cruising along at a pretty good clip when I felt this thing grab me on the left leg,” said Kennedy.
He said it didn’t hurt very much. He first thought one of his snorkeling partners was tugging at his leg.
Then he looked over his shoulder.
“I could see the shark’s left eye and his nose and face as he had a grip on me and then he let go,” he said. “My first reaction was ‘this can’t be real. That’s really a shark.’ And I could see his eye, and I could see his mouth and nose and I thought ‘I don’t believe it.’”
The shark pulled him under for a moment. When it let go, Kennedy swam to the surface and yelled to his friends to get out of the water. Then he swam as fast as he could back to his board.
“When I reached the board, I just crawled on, and then I was able to examine my wound.”
A canoe team watching turtles saw Kennedy and took him to shore.
A surgeon in Hawaii who specializes in shark attacks treated his injuries, but could not close the wounds because of potential infections, which Kennedy said is a common concern with shark bites.
Kennedy and his family will fly to Portland on Tuesday. He said he may go through more surgeries after he returns home.
He plans to go back to Maui, and says he’s not afraid to go back in the water.
“The odds of me being bitten twice are almost impossible to calculate.”
With his luck, I'd stay away from Maui and the water ...
Good attitude, sharks terrify me, I don't know if I could do the same.
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If you dream it.............They will come. ;)Â
Nothing unusual, really... Tigers like them some shallow, coastal waters. Add in their cat-like curiosity and you've got yourself a love bite.
"This can't be real?" Sharks? In the ocean? If he were attacked in a phone booth, that would make sense. Sadly, it reflects the arrogant contempt of our society, driven by willful stupidity and indifference to anyone but ourselves. The shark undoubtedly got a nasty case of indigestion after this and I sure hope that he or she has fully recovered.
 @wysoumible Wow, a guy goes swimming in Hawaii, gets bitten by a shark, and expresses his surprise at being attacked by saying that at first he couldn't believe it was happening, and you qualify that as "arrogant contempt" and "willful stupidity and indifference"? I think it's pretty obvious who wears those labels best here.
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I can tell you first hand that when this kind of stuff happens, the very first reaction that you experience is disbelief. Disbelief that against all odds, this is actually happening. That is not arrogant. Fear comes later. That is one of the reasons people who go through traumatic events often experience shock afterward.
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 @SusieQ  @wysoumible Yeah - "what the hell are you doing in my ocean" is pretty arrogant. Joking about it beforehand makes him a moron. Both show utter contempt for everything but himself. It's not that complicated.
I would not be tempting fate...
The odds of him being bit a second time are no different than the odds of being bit the first time. A shark bite is rare, but any one incident is not made more rare by the fact that the person has been previously bitten.
 @Trek7553 Well the first shark already spit him out. I'm sure word will spread throughout the shark community that this guy is not a tasty morsel.
 @Illuminati  @Trek7553 HAHA! Best post of the day. :)
Vegetarians should heed this, animals will not grant you mercy. That said, a lot of things about our commercial food industry needs to change, but people who are against eating any meat at all should be aware that they are denying their own biology and that bears and sharks won't reciprocate.Â
@NorthwestEconomist Every year thousands of innocent plants are killed to feed vegetarians! Save the plants, eat BACON!
 @NorthwestEconomist Um...yeah, I get where you're coming from, but the shark was most likely not biting him to eat him. He/she probably mistook him for a seal, and that was a "test" bite. Humans are not usually on a shark's list of things to eat.
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Something tells me that if the shark wanted to eat the man, he'd be gone by now.
@Marysvillian13 That is mostly true, some sharks are more aggressive than others but it is true they usually mistake humans for fish with our slapping of the water and such... it send mixed signals. Am I willing to jump into a shark tank not likely...
 @NorthwestEconomist That's ridiculous.  Humans are different than other meat-eating predators - we have will and choice.  We can make a reasoned decision as to our diet.  Other animals have no choice, and, as such, should not be blamed for doing what comes naturally, which is to eat other things, including hapless humans that stray into their world.Â