The central Californian coast is on high alert after a woman was killed by a great white shark. According to a report in The Independent, the 50-year-old was mauled by the while swimming with sealions at Avala Beach, roughly half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The shark bit her left leg and severed her femoral artery, and despite the fact that four lifeguards were on hand to bring her back to the beach, she was dead by the time she reached the shore. This is the first fatal attack by a great whilk in California since 1994, though the area is known to be populated by the sharks.
One shark specialist told the San Francisco Chronicle that great whites normally attack humans if they confuse them for something else – and the woman was wearing a wetsuit and flippers at the time of the attack. He said: “If you are wearing a wetsuit and fins and you are swimming with sealions you are doing a clumsy job of imitating shark food.”
Several beaches in the area were closed to the public yesterday and signs were posted warning people not to go into the sea.
