Doctor fights off shark, then stitches up his own leg

[Northerner]

A New Zealand man has survived being attacked by a shark: driving it off with his knife, stitching his own wound onshore and going to the pub for a beer before heading to hospital.

James Grant, a junior doctor, was spearfishing with friends near Colac Bay at the base of the South Island on Saturday when he was attacked by what he believed was a sevengill shark.

The 24-year-old was in about two metres of murky water when he felt a tug on his leg, which he initially thought was a friend playing a trick on him. "I looked behind to see who it was and got a bit of a shock," he told Radio New Zealand.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/28/doctor-fights-shark-stitches-up-leg

😱

 

[Copepod]

Seems a completely reasonable course of action to me, perhaps because of my 6 months working on South Island, New Zealand, on seal and dolphin swimming tours at Kaikoura, rather than far south tip of Island. He was about 50km from nearest hospital at Invercargill. Unless one of his friends could suture, then he was better doing it himself. If it had been an arm or part he couldn't reach with 2 hands, he'd have needed to instruct a friend to suture.

I lodged with a vet, and if I'd needed suturing (eg when we went out on seal mammal rescue missions), I'd have been happy for him to suture me, should I have needed it and faced a long wait to see a person more used to suturing humans than animals.

I know I enjoyed my tea, bananas, sandwiches with friends, then beer in evening with more friends, after being involved in rescue of tourists & attempted resuscitation of one who didn't survive, after Whalewatch catamaran capsized in Feb or March 1996.

 

[Redkite]

Ha ha, what an "alpha male"! A shark grabs his leg and all he thinks is "oh bugger", then stitches his own wound and heads for the pub!!!