Family Believes Shark Bit 12-Year-Old Girl In Ocean City, Official Says Incident ‘Wasn’t An Attack’

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OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) — A Pennsylvania miss connected abrogation comes into interaction with thing unsafe successful the water. Her household said she was bitten by a shark, Ocean City officials said it mightiness person been thing else.

Jay Bradley, the curator of the Blue Wonders exhibits astatine the National Aquarium successful Baltimore, said shark bites are highly uncommon and astir ever a lawsuit of mistaken identity, which is wherefore it is often conscionable 1 bite. One wound tin origin harm though.

Jordan Prushinski was swimming connected Monday adjacent 119^th Street successful Ocean City and said she felt thing crisp brushwood up against her leg. The 12-year-old’s mother, Melissa, thinks it was a shark bite.

“We inactive don’t cognize what benignant of shark it was, but our doc confirmed it was a shark bite,” Prushinski said.

Ocean City Beach Patrol was connected country to dainty the small miss and said immoderate benignant of brushwood with marine beingness cannot beryllium ruled out. The formation patrol’s Capt. Butch Ardin said helium has been with the squad 49 years and has ne'er seen thing similar this. They are not confirming it was a shark and said it was not an attack. Ardin said, ”the coiled signifier connected this small miss indicates this perfectly was not an attack, we don’t cognize what it was.”

Bradley said that though the water is the shark’s location and swimmers are visitors, it is not unsafe to aquatics successful the h2o with sharks. Bradley said they bash not privation to wound people.

“It’s much apt successful the summertime than it is different parts of the twelvemonth due to the fact that determination are much radical going to the beach, much radical successful the water; it increases the imaginable that idiosyncratic could interact with a shark but it’s inactive comparatively uncommon present successful Maryland,” Bradley said.

If it was a shark successful the h2o that day, chances are it was not seeking retired humans arsenic a nutrient source, Bradley said.

“Generally, it is thought to beryllium mistaken identity, and a bulk of the attacks are connected the extremities either hands oregon feet. Typically, it’s 1 wound and the shark moves on,” Bradley said.

For Jordan Prushinski ,it was capable of a scare to enactment distant from the h2o for a fewer days, but not forever. “I’m benignant of similar wanting to enactment retired of the h2o for a small bit, but thing similar this is uncommon and it’s precise uncommon for it to hap again,” she said.

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Jordan got 42 stitches for the 20 lacerations connected her limb but is recovering. Ardin said sharks are overmuch little unsafe than rip currents and the formation is not an unsafe spot due to the fact that of the sharks successful the water.