{"id":346205,"date":"2026-03-21T00:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/shark-attack-survivor-speaks-out-after-he-was-bitten-in-both-legs-surfing"},"modified":"2026-03-21T00:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:55:16","slug":"shark-attack-survivor-speaks-out-after-he-was-bitten-in-both-legs-surfing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/shark-attack-survivor-speaks-out-after-he-was-bitten-in-both-legs-surfing","title":{"rendered":"Shark assault survivor speaks out after he was bitten in each legs browsing"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

A surfer who was bitten by a shark<\/a> off the coast of Northern California spoke out from his hospital bed, sharing details of how he freed himself to get back to shore safely.<\/p>\n

James Eastman was in the water at Big River Beach inside Mendocino Headlands State Park just after 5 p.m. Wednesday when the attack occurred, according to California State Parks.<\/p>\n

Eastman, 39, told ABC News he was going for a quick surf before picking up his 9-month-old up from day care.<\/p>\n

“I could see the shark’s head kind of above the water,” Eastman recalled. “I thought of my wife and my kid and I was just like, I cannot die. I can’t die right now.”<\/p>\n

He said he went into survival mode and tried to bat the shark on its nose to “free myself from it.”<\/p>\n

It did eventually swim away and Eastman was able to stay on his surfboard and paddle back to shore. Three off-duty lifeguards who were surfing nearby raced to help Eastman.<\/p>\n

Eastman sustained injuries to both legs and was taken by ambulance to Adventist Hospital in Fort Bragg where his wife Chloe works as an emergency room nurse.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Adventist<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>
\n
\n

Jason Eastman spoke out from his hospital bed after he survived a shark attack in Mendocino, California.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ABC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I’m in the middle of work in the ER and I just like dropped to the ground like, ‘What?'” she told ABC News. “It’s my worst fear too — that happening to him.”<\/p>\n

Although sharks are common in California, experts said encounters with humans are very rare.<\/p>\n

John Ugoretz, pelagic fisheries and ecosystem program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told ABC News that there have only been 234 shark-related incidents in California since 1950.<\/p>\n

“So while it’s not unexpected, it is certainly not something that happens all the time,” he said of this kind of attack.<\/p>\n

Eastman said he’s grateful for the support of the community and has already thought about getting back in the water.<\/p>\n

“I love surfing so much and I would be very sad if I didn’t surf again,” he said. “As far as everything else is concerned, I was extremely lucky.”<\/p>\n

California Department of Wildlife officials told ABC News they have “collected DNA samples and will work to gather additional information to better understand the circumstances of the incident.”<\/p>\n

“While sharks are highly mobile and travel long distances quickly, it is possible it remains in the area,” officials said.<\/p>\n

California State Parks said nearby beaches posted signs to notify the public of a 48-hour beach closure.<\/p>\n

“State Parks would like to remind visitors that sharks are an important part of the coastal ecosystem and that interactions between people and sharks are rare,” the department stated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A surfer who was bitten by a shark off the coast of Northern California spoke out from his hospital bed, sharing details of how he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":346208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23696,101,23695,23692,23694,11141,23691,23693,23697,6984,9086],"class_list":["post-346205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-adventist-hospital","tag-california","tag-california-division-of-wildlife","tag-emergency-room-nurse","tag-fisheries-and-ecosystem-program-supervisor","tag-fort-bragg","tag-jason-eastman","tag-john-ugoretz","tag-mendocino","tag-northern-california","tag-surfer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346205"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346207,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346205\/revisions\/346207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}