Archive for the 'New Zealand' Category
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
A 23 ft shark spotted near a Christchurch beach in New Zealand forced lifesavers to clear the water on one of the busiest days of the year.
Life saving manager Dougal Holmes said South Brighton Beach was cleared after police reported a shark sighting near Waimairi Beach at 2pm yesterday and signs were put up to warn beachgoers.
He said the beach clearance was a precautionary measure only, as shark attacks were extremely rare.
[source]
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
A teenager from New Zealand has saved herself from the jaws of a shark by using her body-board to defend herself.
Fourteen-year-old Lydia Ward said she was at a beach near the southern city of Invercargill when the shark struck.
The shark, about 5 ft in length, is reported to have lunged at her and tried to bite her hip.
Standing in water that only reached up to her waist at Oreti Beach, she said she hit the “big, grey, slippery thing” repeatedly with her body-board.
“I showed Dad and he didn’t really believe me but then I showed him my wetsuit with all the blood coming out and he believed me,” Lydia told Radio New Zealand.
Although not seriously injured, Lydia required hospital treatment for two of the deeper wounds.
[source + video]
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
• In Mt Maunganui, New Zealand a young boy was pulled out of the water by his parents after a shark was spotted cruising just a few feet away from him at Bay of Plenty beach. [read more]
• Six sharks were spotted swimming off the West Australian coast, prompting beach closings. A 9 ft shark was spotted near some children during their swimming lessons on Wednesday. Meanwhile, beaches were closed after five more sharks were sighted off the Perth coast. [read more]
• And back in New Zealand lifeguards at East London’s Nahoon Beach had to hoist the shark warning flag yesterday after a surfer claimed he was knocked off his surfboard by a shark. [read more]
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
A really big turtle was found dead on Muriwai Beach Monday morning. The 8 ft long, 3 ft high, 5 ft wide turtle, believed to be a leatherback, had not been dead long when Linda and Peter Steen found it.
[source]
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
Beaches near Nelson, New Zealand have reopened after a suspected shark attack has now been confirmed as a run-in with a stingray.
Mike French, 47, had waded about 300 ft off Kina Beach, near Motueka, shortly after 3pm today when he felt something hit him in the side. He was able to get out of the water by himself and a couple at the beach raised the alarm. He was then flown by helicopter to Nelson Hospital.
French said he thought it had been a stingray attack since the gash was straight and not jagged.
Sergeant Rob Crawford, of Motueka police, said an examination of Mr French confirmed that the injury was more likely to have come from a sting-ray than a shark.
Beaches were closed after the attack but have since reopened.
There have been three stingray attacks in recent months. Last month an 11-year-old girl was attacked at Riversdale Beach, on the Wairarapa coast, and a man was attacked at Marfels Beach, near Blenheim. In December, a 48-year-old woman was attacked in Golden Bay.
[source]
Friday, January 16th, 2009
A “very large shark” chased two surfers out of the water near Dunedin, NZ.
The surfers were in the water at Karitane Beach when they spotted the shark. One of the surfer’s friends said the shark bumped into the guy and was as big as his board.
Local man Allan Anderson, who owns a kayaking business in the area, said shark sightings were common and he often saw up to two a day but they were generally small and harmless. He also said he’d be taking his clients to another area…
[source]
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
A surfer in New Zealand got to got to spend a liittle QT with three orcas on the Taranaki coast.
Life long surfer Craig Hunter (aka Billy) was surfing at Stent Road surf break near Cape Egmont in Taranaki, when he saw a big whale about 6.30pm on Saturday, but he said the waves were just too good to stay out of the water.
Hunter said he had seen a girl killed by a shark when he was 16 so the orca did not make him nervous. Huh?
Meanwhile, according to photographer Jane Dove Juneau, there was one large orca and two small ones. Hunter had been too busy surfing to notice the other two whales.
[source]
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
A 9 ft mako shark circled some boaters for about half an hour off New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay coast. Then it started attacking the boat’s motor. The body of the aluminium boat was unscathed, but the shark’s teeth left puncture marks in the outboard motor.
It didn’t leave until they bopped it on the nose a few times.
[source]
Thanks Phillip!
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
Greg Sims, 49, was enjoying a dip just south of New Zealand’s Tukituki River mouth when he felt a sharp, painful bite on the back of his leg. Sims, a registered nurse, used his towel as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before driving to Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
At first, Sims thought it was a stingray since he never saw a fin, but rays leave a sharp whip-like laceration. This wound was the shape of a bite, and there was a chunk of flesh missing. Ew. The hospital sent a photo of the wound to shark expert Clinton Duffy who confirmed it was a shark bite.
The lead suspect: a broadnose sevengill shark. It’s a common large coastal shark species, with an almost non-existent dorsal fin so you wouldn’t see it break the surface in shallow water.
[source]
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
A New Zealand man (Nathan Maclure, 26) was adrift at sea for more than 30 hours after his jet ski broke down. Bummer. Not only was the weather nasty, but the dude was also visited by a few sharks before being spotted by a Russian boat about 8 miles off the South Island’s Canterbury coast on Saturday.
Might wanna get that jet ski serviced…
[source]
Thanks Daire!
