KEY WEST — For the fourth time in a year, a person has been bitten by a shark while swimming in Florida Keys waters. A swimmer at Fort Zachary Taylor was bitten and taken to the hospital on Jan. 7.
Key West Police Department only released few details of the incident, saying it occurred Saturday, Jan. 8, off the beach near the Naval Air Station Key West property while the man was swimming in Key West Harbor.
The person was “bit by what appeared to be a large shark while swimming on the west side of Fort Zach.
“He sustained puncture wounds and lacerations to his thigh, knee and calf area. He was transported to the E.R. in stable condition,” the KWPD watch commander report stated.
In August, a 10-year-old boy was taken to a Miami hospital after reportedly being bitten by a shark at Looe Key Reef, but the boy appears to be recovering well from his injury.
The boy, Jameson Reeder Jr., was snorkeling with his parents at the popular reef at about 4 p.m. Aug. 13 when he was bitten by a shark on his lower right leg, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jason Rafter. His parents were able to flag down another boat, which had an off-duty nurse on board.
The boy was taken to a nearby marina, where he was met by paramedics, and then flown by Trauma Star helicopter to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Rafter said.
The family believes the boy was bitten by an 8-foot bull shark, according to a Facebook post from the boy’s uncle.
Earlier in the year, Lindsay Bruns, 35, of Flower Mound, Texas, was enjoying a family vacation with her husband, Luke, and two young daughters, when she was bitten by a large shark near Marvin Key. She also was treated at a Miami hospital and was expected to make a full recovery.
There was also a report of a person being taken to the hospital after being bit by a shark off the Middle Keys during the two-day lobster mini-season in late July.
