A 61-year old man was in the wrong place at the wrong time Wednesday afternoon as he became the second person in six years to suffer bites from what is believed to be a great white shark in Cape Cod waters. The victim was taken by MedFlight helicopter to a trauma unit at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The man was conscious and talking to first responders as they prepared him for the flight.
The incident happened off Long Nook Beach in Truro just after 4 p.m. The man was about 30 yards off-shore in shallow water when he was bitten. Witnesses say there were about a dozen seals in the area at the time.
Biologist and shark expert, Dr. Greg Skomal, who has been working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy in a five-year study of the great white's population off the Cape, has yet to confirm the bite came from a great white.
Conservancy CEO, Cynthia Wigrin, in a statement said sharks don't target humans and in virtually all cases it is a case of mistaken identity where the shark mistakes a person for a seal.