Shark bite like a ‘bear trap,' Brevard County attack victim says

MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. — A number of shark bites have been reported recently at Central Florida beaches and one victim described the attack that left her with 10 stitches on her hand.

“Almost like … a bear trap,” Heather Orr said of the bite. “And then (the shark) released really quick.”

She had only been in the water at Melbourne Beach with her boyfriend for about 15 minutes Monday when the 3-foot shark hit.

“All I saw was blood,” Orr’s boyfriend, Chris Nelson, said. “When I actually heard her say, ‘Shark,’ and I looked over and I saw it.”

Hours after Orr was bitten by the shark a 10-year-old girl was bitten on a different stretch of Melbourne Beach, officials said.

The girl received a 6-inch gash in her leg from the attack.

The shark situation continued Tuesday when a 35-year-old Canadian woman was bitten as she was getting off her surf board in chest-deep water.

Lifeguards were urging people to be alert when they’re in the water and stay close to their stations.

“The biggest thing you can do is actually swim near a lifeguard,” Brevard Ocean Rescue Chief Eisen Witcher said. “Our people are trained to spot these things in the water.”

The experience has soured the ocean for Orr, but she thinks she will get back in the water some day.

“Not anytime soon, but probably,” she said.

Cox Media Group