Surfer bitten by shark owes his life to his board

Mar 24, 2011, 4:48 GMT

Sydney - An Australian savaged by a shark has his surfboard to thank for surviving the attack, news reports said Thursday.

Dave Pearson, 48, was recovering in hospital in Newcastle, 150 kilometres north of Sydney, from severe puncture wounds and the loss of part of his left arm.

'The shark bit through his board,' Adam Eady told the Newcastle Herald. 'If it hadn't been there, it would have ripped him in half,' said Eady, a lifeguard at Crowdy Head where the attack occurred.

Eady said quick-thinking fellow surfers fashioned a makeshift tourniquet that kept Pearson alive until the rescue helicopter arrived.

Marine biologist Ron Hunt said sharks do not normally prey on humans and, as usual, the attack was a case of mistaken identity.

'We're not their natural food,' he said. 'Unfortunately people get hurt while the shark is testing to see whether it's food. Bit of fibreglass and a bit of human arm doesn't taste like food and they spit it out and go 'yuck!''

A week ago, 50 kilometres away in Nelson Bay, 24-year-old wakeboarder Lisa Mondy was seriously injured in an attack by a great white shark.

Doctors at the John Hunter hospital, where Pearson is also being treated, were still not confident they could save Mondy's left arm.

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