PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 18 (UPI/Daniel Uria) ─ Allen Engelman, 28, was bitten by a shark on Sunday while surfing at Singer Island in Palm Beach Fla.
A day later he returned to exact his revenge.
Engelman was bitten by a seven-foot spinner shark and sent to the hospital, where he received 15 stitches. On Monday, he returned to the beach with his 5-year-old son and captured what he claims is the exact same shark.
“Now that we got the shark that bit my hand we’re going to filet and eat him,” he said.
A commercial fisherman, Engelman told the Sun-Sentinel that he has caught several sharks in the past and has a good eye for their size and shape. He added that he was “100 percent sure” that he was bitten by a spinner shark.
Although some bystanders were upset by Engelman’s catch, shark fishing is legal on Florida beaches and spinner sharks can be legally killed if they exceed 54 inches from nose to tail.
When the shark came up between Engelman and his friend while the two were paddling to a wave, he shouted to warn his friend of the shark’s presence then quickly attempted to free his hand from the shark’s grasp.
“He was pulling me with a lot of power,” he said. “With my right hand I grabbed his pectoral fin. He was tugging on my hand, and I was tugging on him and he let go.”
Florida Atlantic University shark expert Steve Kajiura and Engelman opined that poor weather conditions causing rough tides led the shark to mistake Engelman’s hand for a fish.
“Certainly under high wind conditions when the water is all choppy, it makes it more difficult to see and you can have these cases of mistaken identity,” said Kaijura.
