The Dorsal Fin

WITN.com is reporting that a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl is recovering from a shark bite which happened at North Carolina’s North Topsail Beach last Sunday. Cassidy Cartwright was bitten in 3-feet-deep when she felt a tug on her foot. Cartwright said she was bitten twice. She was air-lifted to a hospital at Chapel Hill and is expected to be released soon.

ABC News reports Carolyn Cartwright, the mother of the victim, has criticized local authorities for not informing others about the shark bite.

ABC News also reports that a shark tooth was removed from the leg of Cartwright by doctors at UNC Children’s Hospital at Chapel Hill. The species has yet to be identified in any media reports that I’ve seen or read, but with a tooth of the shark being removed from the victim’s wounds, it seems like identification should be fairly straightforward.

Here’s to a speedy and full recovery for Cassidy Cartwright.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to dive with some sand tiger sharks off the North Carolina coast. Unfortunately, the juvenile sand tiger in the video above had apparently been hooked on what appears to be a fisherman’s bottom rig. The young shark was swimming around inside the hull of the USS Indra. The shark appeared to have a treble hook in its lower jaw with a lead sinker dangling from it.

The sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) is a protected species in U.S. waters. However, due to the unpredictable nature of fishing, sand tigers can be accidentally hooked by fisherman. It is unclear whether this particular shark was hooked accidentally and broke the line, or the line was simply cut.

A diver had told us he attempted to remove the hook from the shark on a previous dive. He said he had “wrestled” with the shark for quite some time during the attempt, but his efforts proved unsuccessful.

KABC News is reporting that a 13-year-old North Carolina teen is expected to fully recover after being bitten twice on her left leg while swimming off Topsail Island in North Carolina. Carley Schlentz’s wounds required 60 stitches. While doctors expect her to recover fully, she will be on crutches for the next few weeks and her mother said she may need reconstructive surgery after the wounds heal. The species of shark involved in the attack has not yet been determined.

According to the Virginia Pilot, North Carolina’s medical examiners office has reverted back to its original conclusion in the cause of death of a Pennsylvania man who went missing while swimming off Corolla Beach, NC, last month. Earlier today, the Virginia Pilot reported the medical examiner’s office had ruled the cause of death as an accidental drowning. According to the latest Virginia Pilot article, the cause of death was reverted back to a shark attack after another marine biologist reviewed the evidence. However, Crystal Baity, a spokesperson for East Carolina University, where the autopsy occurred, said that the "continued uncertainty" will require that the case be further reviewed. Baity said she was unaware of how long the final review would take.

The flip-flopping in the ruling likely explains why the story appeared and then disappeared from WAVY-TV 10′s website yesterday. Hopefully, the medical examiner’s office can come to a solid conclusion soon.

WAVY-TV 10 reported earlier today that the North Carolina state Medical Examiner has now ruled the death of a 60-year old Pennsylvania man as an accidental drowning. Last month, it was reported that the Medical Examiner was seeking a second opinion on the cause of death. According to the WAVY-TV 10 article, "The Medical Examiner’s Office in Greenville, N.C. reviewed images of the body with marine biologists and came to the conclusion that [the victim] accidentally drowned. A shark did not kill him."

The WAVY-TV 10 story, which appeared in Google News listings, has since disappeared.

Interestingly enough, the article, which was published today at 1:01 EDT, has since been pulled from the WAVY-TV 10 website. The article is still appearing in Google News listings and is available for viewing through a cached Google page, although it is not clear why the story has been pulled from the website. This reported new finding by the Medical Examiner has yet to appear at any other local media sources that I have been able to track down. The fact that it was pulled from WAVY.com not long after it was published and the lack of the report showing up elsewhere draw the validity of the story into question, at this time.

Regardless of the Medical Examiner’s ultimate ruling, the loss of the victim’s life is no less tragic. My thoughts and sympathies go out to his friends and family. I have chosen not to repeat the victim’s name regarding this news (or, perhaps, falsely reported news), as I’m sure having his name appearing in the news, yet again, likely will serve only to remind those he left behind of their tragic loss.