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Texas shark attack victim breaks down the moment she kicked at beast after mistaking it for a 'huge fish' as she reveals the extent of her injuries
A mom who got her calf torn off by a shark at a Texas beach on July 4th has spoken out about the terrifying experience, saying she first thought the predator was just a 'huge fish.'
Tabatha Sullivent was in the water on South Padre Island with her daughter and husband when the shark began hunting them.
She said they were out past a sand bar when the shark followed her to shallow water and attacked her.
'I turned around, and all I saw was something gray in the water. So, I just kicked at it, because I thought it was a huge fish, and it was coming at us. That's when I think it grabbed my leg,' Sullivent told CBS News Texas from her hospital bed.
The bull shark - a creature with one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom sank its teeth into her lower leg with no intention of letting go.
Tabatha Sullivent sits in a hospital bed after her calf was bitten off by a bull shark. Her husband, who bravely fought off the beast, sits next to her
Sullivent is seen bleeding from her leg into the ocean as the group who pulled her out of the water surround her
Sullivent said her husband valiant fought off the beast, jumping into the water and grabbing her.
In the process, he was bitten twice as well.
Beachgoers pulled her out of the water, and first responders were soon on the scene tending to her gaping wound.
'If my husband didn't jump into action and everyone else on the beach, if I didn't have people pulling me out - not just to pull me out but jumping between the shark and me - I don't think it would've stopped,' she said.
A total of four people encountered the shark in the water, according to initial reports. The Sullivents were bit and while two others escaped with minor injuries.
Social media footage of the attack shows Sullivent laying on the sand while a dorsal fin can be seen swimming back and forth near the shoreline.
Blood from her wound can be seen turning the water a dark red, while first responders wrap a tourniquet around her leg.
Blood from her wound can be seen turning the waters washing up on the beach a dark red, while first responders wrap a tourniquet around her leg
A dorsal fin can be seen swimming back and forth near the shoreline as the woman lays on the sand
The incident happened on South Padre Island, Texas, on Thursday morning and the woman had to be hauled to shore by a team of rescuers
'My leg is pretty much gone,' she told FOX Dallas-Fort Worth roughly a day after the attack.
'They flushed it out today. It's all the way to the bone. It did not go through the bone.'
Sullivent will need multiple reconstructive surgeries, but doctors are optimistic that she'll be able to keep her leg and walk again.
'I have movement in my toes and in my ankle. My bone structure is good. I'm going to probably need physical therapy for sure,' Sullivent said.
The North Texas couple were celebrating their daughter Skylar's 15th birthday on the day of the attack, and their 16th wedding anniversary was supposed to be the day after.
The Sullivents didn't expect to spend their special day in a hospital room together, but they're happy to be alive and together.
'Somebody or something was definitely looking over us for sure,' Sullivent said.
Sullivent said her bite was 'all the way to the bone.'
First responders quickly arrived on the scene to bring Sullivent to safety
Tabatha was taken to a nearby hospital where she is in stable condition. Her husband Cary Sullivent (right) remains by her side
Their daughter Skylar posted an update on her parents' condition shortly after the attack.
'My mom is trying to get as much rest as she can and figure out the road ahead. Recovery will be a long process but I know she will get through it,' Skylar wrote on Facebook.
A GoFundMe page was set up recently to help fund the couple's recovery and has already raised nearly $25,000, rapidly closing in on its $30,000 goal.
Given the clear threat the shark posed to anyone frequenting beaches in the area, local officials were keen on dealing with the predator right away.
South Padre Island and Cameron County Parks officials located the shark, harnessed it and moved it back out into deeper waters so it won't be an ongoing threat to beachgoers, KFDX-TV reported.
Helicopter footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows officials flying directly over the shark as it swims through shallow waters right after the attack.
The animal was not harmed or physically injured over the course of this operation to get it back out to sea, according to Captain Dowdy from Texas Parks and Wildlife.
This image provided by Texas Department of Public Safety shows a shark close to the share in South Padre Island, Texas on Thursday, July 4, 2024
The shark swims right near an incoming wave, shortly after biting two people and encountering two others
Dowdy said the 'unusual' attack was likely caused by weather changes from incoming Hurricane Beryl, which will strike the Texas coastline sometime Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Immediately after the attack, Texas Parks and Wildlife released a statement telling beachgoers that authorities were patrolling the beach by land, by boat and by air.
The city also considered closing the beach entirely to the public.
In March, a 14-foot great white shark was spotted near South Padre Island, according to local radio station KNFM.
But given that officials are reasonably confident that the culprit in the most recent attacks was a bull shark, it's likely that great white wasn't involved.
This comes after two teenagers and a woman were attacked by a shark early last month in Walton Beach, Florida.
Elisabeth Foley, the first victim of a shark attack on Florida's panhandle, is pictured left
Lulu Gribbin, was one of the teen girls attacked by a shark last month in Florida. The bites were so severe that surgeons needed to amputate her 'right leg halfway up from her knee to her hip,' according to a Facebook post written by her mother
According to the Walton County Sheriff's Office, 45-year-old Elisabeth Foley was bit by the marine animal in the water near Watersound Way and Coopersmith Lane at around 1:15pm.
She sustained 'significant trauma to the midsection and pelvic area and amputation of her left lower arm,' according to South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford.
At around 3pm, officials responded to calls of another shark attack on two female teenagers, 15 and 17 years old that occurred four miles away from the first attack.
The teens were later identified as Lulu Gribbin, who lost a hand and a leg, and McCray Faust, who suffered injuries to her foot.
All three of the victims, who were visiting the area from other states, were attacked while they were swimming near the sandbar.