A surfer in his 50s was rushed to a hospital on Monday after being bitten by a shark at a popular beach in Western Australia, the state government and local ambulance service said. Authorities said they received a report of a "shark incident" around 9:45 a.m. at Glenfield Beach, just over 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Perth. The man is in a "serious but stable condition," national broadcaster ABC reported, citing local health authorities.
The outlet identified the injured man as Mel Ismail and released images of a damaged surfboard, which will be tested to determine the species of shark involved. Locals were advised to take additional caution around the beach. Australian scientists believe increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures are shifting sharks' migratory patterns, which may be contributing to a rise in attacks.
A 12-year-old boy died after he was bitten by a shark while swimming in Sydney Harbour in January. The attack that killed the boy was one of four recorded in the span of two days, which prompted officials to close dozens of the city's beaches. Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June — two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
Also in June, a woman was mauled by a shark at one of Australia's most popular beaches in Sydney. The woman — a schoolteacher — last month recalled swinging a "left hook" at the predator before it dragged her underwater. She was placed in an induced coma and had part of her left arm amputated after the June 13 attack.
Last November, a shark killed a woman and seriously wounded a man at a national park beach on Australia's east coast in a rare instance of the predator attacking two people. The International Shark Attack File, a database of global shark attacks maintained by the University of Florida, has recorded more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, including more than 250 fatal incidents. Such incidents have become more common as the population has grown and activities such as surfing and scuba diving have gained popularity.
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