(LOS ANGELES) — A boy is undergoing surgery after suffering a shark bite at a Boy Scouts camp at Catalina Island in Southern California, officials said.
The Boy Scouts said the camper was canoeing when he suffered a non-life-threatening bite Wednesday morning.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Lifeguard Division said the victim and his father were kayaking when their boat was bumped by what’s believed to be a shark. He reached into the water and was bitten on the hand, the department said.
The victim was transported by air to a hospital to undergo surgery, the fire department said.
“Our camp staff quickly removed all participants from the water following this incident, and we have canceled all water activities,” the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement.
“We provide a chase boat, which goes out before every water activity that takes place outside of Emerald Bay to identify potential weather and wildlife hazards and follows each group of participants back to shore,” the Boy Scouts added. “No hazards were spotted this morning.”
Fire officials said, per department policy, the ocean has been closed 1 mile in each direction for at least 24 hours.
A shark expert from Scripps Institution of Oceanography has been requested to help identify the type and size of the shark, the fire department said.
“Our thoughts are with this young man and his family, and we will continue to support them in any way we can,” the Boy Scouts said.
A 35-year-old man was seriously injured in a great white shark attack in the Bay Area on Saturday. He was treated and released from the hospital for a leg injury.
Four people were attacked by sharks in California in all of 2020, including one fatally, according to the University of Florida’s Yearly Worldwide Shark Attack Summary.
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