A shark attacked a Texas man swimming near Crystal Beach northeast of Galveston on Thursday, Fox News reported.
The unidentified 42-year-old man from the Alvin area was rushed to the University of Texas Medical Branch with bite wounds to his thigh, above his knee, but the injuries were reportedly not life-threatening.
"The shark bumped me. Then he wanted to taste me," the victim told paramedics, according to KHOU.
The man had been swimming off a sand bar when the incident occurred, but luckily there were witnesses nearby to assist by flagging down a deputy patrolling the beach. He was first treated at a local EMS station before being transported to the hospital.
The Houston Chronicle reported that there have been 43 unprovoked shark attacks recorded in Texas since 1837, 18 of which occurred in Galveston County.
There have been several shark attacks occurring across the U.S. coastline, thrusting these animals into the limelight and portraying them as blood-thirsty predators.
Recently, two children playing in the surf miles apart along the Fire Island National Seashore in New York were injured in shark attacks.
In the Fernandina Beach area of Florida, a double shark attack left a 30-year-old man and 17-year-old boy injured.
These incidents are intimidating, but according to data, the odds of getting bitten and killed by a shark are still low.
The Florida Museum noted that bees, wasps and snakes are responsible for more fatalities each year than sharks and that in the U.S., lightning strikes cause up to 30 times more deaths than shark attacks.
Statistically, a person entering the ocean is more likely to die from causes such as drowning and cardiac arrest than from a shark attack, the museum said.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals pointed out that more sharks are killed by humans each year, with species declining as much as 80 percent along the Southeastern Coast of the U.S. since the 1970s and 1980s.
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