A fisherman on a birthday trip in Florida suffered serious injuries to his leg over the weekend while posing with a large shark for a photo after he and his friends caught the animal.
The encounter took place on the barrier island of Cayo Costa in southwest Florida, Boca Grande District Fire Chief C.W. Blosser confirmed to USA TODAY on Aug. 21.
Cayo Costa is in Lee County west of Naples.
According to Blosser, the man was taken to a hospital to be treated after the shark bit his leg during the Aug. 16 incident that occurred just before 11 p.m. ET.
Two 911 calls alerted authorities of the shark bite, reported the Fort Meyers News-Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
“We caught a lemon shark. … We just took the hook out,” 48-year-old Shawn Meuse said. “We’re getting ready to release him back in the water, and he turned around and bit me.”
While taking a photo, the shark squirmed and chomped down on a man’s leg in Lee County, FL.
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Fisherman bit by shark was posing with photo with it
Video shows Meuse holding the shark by the nose along a shoreline as another man lifts the shark’s tail fin.
Footage goes on to show the shark struggling to avoid capture, apparently attempting to get back into the water.
Watch the harrowing moment in the video at the top of the story.
‘For the picture, for the memory’
The injured man told Storyful and local NBC News the shark reared as he attempted to hold the nearly 6-foot lemon shark, before it bit his leg below his knee.
Footage of the video shot by one of Meuse’s friends shows the shark flop back into the water.
“They took me off the boat, threw me in the ambulance and drove me to the helicopter and now I’m here,” Meuse told the TV station in an interview from the hospital where he said he had undergone surgery.
When a reporter asked why Meuse wanted a photo with the shark he responded, “For the picture, for the memory.”
After the incident, Blosser reminded people to never underestimate mother nature.
“He got lucky,” the chief told USA TODAY. “It could have been a lot worse.”
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How many people die from shark attacks every year?
According to data from the International Shark Attack File, run by the Florida Museum of Natural History, the world averages 65 documented shark attacks annually.
On average, six fatal attacks are reported each year, data shows.
Last year, 47 people were bitten in unprovoked attacks.
Contributing: Tomas Rodriguez, Fort Myers News-Press
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fisherman bit by shark in Cayo Costa, Florida, while posing for photo