Chance Armand spearfishing with his friends last year when he had a terrifying run-in with a gigantic 8-foot bull shark. This tragic event developed off the coast of Florida on Saturday. Famed for his weekly spear fishing outings, Armand was taken aback by the growing influx of sharks in the region. His much-too-close-for-comfort experience has had lasting effects, however, leaving him with a traumatic injury. It inspired him to be an advocate for the increasing shark presence in Floridian waters.
On the day of the attack, Armand was spear fishing when he spotted the shark from a distance. “I was making my way up … and my spidey senses kicked in, and I looked down, and I saw this bull shark come flying up,” he recounted. When the shark came lunging at him, Armand’s reflexes kicked in and he fought to keep himself safe.
“By the time I realized that he was not going to stop, all I could do was just throw my knee in between him and my chest,” he explained. Sadly, this critical defensive maneuver proved insufficient to avoid injury. When the bull shark clamped down on his leg, it sent Armand into a world of hurt and shock.
Although he was with a team at the moment, his teammates did not realize the extent of his injury at first. Without even a medical kit in the boat, Armand was able to return to shore where he received stitches for his injury. Medics noted that while it was incredibly painful, the bite could have been much worse had it bitten deeper.
Though reflecting on the incident, Armand said he had issues with the increasing number of sharks close to shorelines. “The problem we’ve kind of run into down here now is the Florida Wildlife Commission’s recovery effort for sharks has worked phenomenally. We are in the middle of a shark super bloom right now,” he said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
These trends may help explain why, in recent weeks, headlines began popping up on the Florida beach shark invasion. Just last week, an Australian beachgoer captured amazing footage of a shark attacking a stingray. This fantastic experience happened around Panama City Beach. These incidents represent a recent dangerous trend putting the safety of beach and water sport users at risk.
