Surfer bitten on foot by 5-foot shark

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published July 9, 2010
GALVESTON — A Galveston resident was bitten on his foot by a shark while surfing, authorities said Thursday.

Chad Rogers, 20, was surfing in the early afternoon of June 28 in the Gulf off 8 Mile Road when he saw a shark fin, Galveston Island Beach Patrol Chief Peter Davis said.

Rogers thought it was a 5-foot bull shark, Davis said.

No ambulance transported Rogers, but he was treated at the University of Texas Medical Branch, a spokesman for the county health district and Davis said.

“He was just past the second sandbar,” Davis said. “It bit him on his foot, and he kicked it with his other foot and swam over the shark to shore.”

Rogers said he hopped about a quarter-mile to his truck with the aid of a friend. Rogers required about 50 or 60 stitches, Davis said.

“When I pulled my foot out, I was bleeding all over the place,” Rogers said in an interview with YourTownTV.com. “I was kind of freaking out. I never thought I would get bitten by a shark.

“After that, we had a race to get (to shore.) I just remember getting bit and trying to get the hell out of the water.”

Rogers said in addition to a large gash, he had “nibble marks” from the shark on his toes.

Rogers’ incident was the eight documented shark bite off Galveston in Davis’ nearly three decades with the beach patrol, he said.

The last reports of shark bites in the county occurred in 2005, when children were bitten off Crystal Beach. A woman, 19, also was bitten in 2004 off 53rd Street in Galveston.

“This is the first case of a surfer getting bit that I know of since 1983,” Davis said.

There are steps that could help reduce the chance of being bitten by a shark, Davis said.

Avoid swimming in a school of fish, he said. Most sharks in Galveston’s shallow water are small and will swim away if they feel the vibration of people shuffling their feet, Davis said.

Davis also recommended against swimming in channels, like the San Luis Pass or Houston Ship Channel.

Davis also recommended anglers not tie stringers of bloody fish to themselves.

Rogers said the incident won’t deter him from taking his surf board out again.

“I am still going to go surfing,” he said in the YourTownTV.com interview. “It didn’t take my leg off or anything.”

(News Media: For more information contact Kurt Koopmann, GCHD Public Information Officer, 409-938-2211 or kkoopman@gchd.org)