Surf City Police confirmed to People of a recent shark attack incident involving an 8-year-old boy Wednesday, in Surf City, North Carolina.
The unnamed boy was reported to have suffered "minor leg and foot injuries" from what looked like a "small shark bite," the Surf City Police Department told ABC News.
"The wounds were superficial and not considered serious," police said, "but Surf City Police and Pender East EMS responded and provided on scene treatment."
The child was taken to Scott's Hill Emergency Room immediately after the incident to further assess the wound site.
"I believe he's back home or back at the place they were in vacation and generally in pretty good shape," Surf City Town Manager Larry Bergman told ABC News today, "so they just wanted to make sure it got cleaned out and checked."
Not even two weeks ago, two serious shark attacks have been reported in Oak Island, North Carolina, making this recent report the third incident of attack on the state's coastline. Fortunately, this one didn't turn out as serious as the previous two.
Kiersten Yow, the 12-year-old Oak Island incident victim who lost her arm below her elbow is showing improvement of condition but remains in the hospital. Hunter Treschl, the 16-year-old boy who was attacked 90 minutes after Yow also lost his arm below the shoulder but already has been discharged. The Oak Island incidents are 60 miles away from the place of the latest attack.
But despite the consecutive reports of dangerous shark behavior, beachgoers are not entirely discouraged to be in the ocean. Lary Cahoon, a shark expert, told People.
"You have a higher chance of getting into a car accident driving to the beach than you do getting attacked by a shark when you get there," Cahoon, professor of biology and marine biology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, says. "The fact is that sharks have millions of contact hours with humans on beaches every year, yet attacks are really rare. Just be smart."
"Sharks are frightened of us," he adds. "They normally will only attack us if they mistake us for their typical prey, like skate and rays."
In a case of an attack, the best thing to do is to swim back to shore as fast you can, he advises.
"People say to swim slowly back to shore, but what is that going to do? Swim to shore as fast as you can - a shark that means to eat you will keep coming. You need to call for help. People who survive all but the least damaging shark attacks got immediate help from others," he says. "Basically, don't swim alone in shark waters."
Your punching skills won't work in fending off a shark, he explains.
"A 10-foot bull shark will weigh close to 500 pounds and is essentially all muscle. What chance would anyone have?" says Cahoon. "You won't be thinking rationally even if you have the opportunity to punch it, so just focus on getting back to land."