NEED TO KNOW
\nA fisherman tried to pose with a shark, only for the animal to bite him on the leg on an island in Florida on Aug. 16The injured man had to be airlifted to a hospital due to his injury\u201cIt\u2019s just a reminder to stay alert when you\u2019re out in nature,\u201d Boca Grande Fire Chief C.W. Blosser said<\/p>\n
A fisherman who was bitten while posing for a photo with a shark is reflecting on the scary moment.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
On the evening of Saturday, Aug. 16, Shawn Meuse was on a birthday fishing trip with his friends on Cayo Costa, an island near Boca Grande, Fla., when he decided to pose with a lemon shark, NBC affiliate WBBH<\/a> reported.\n<\/p>\n In a reel shared on his Facebook<\/a> page, Meuse can be seen holding the top of the shark\u2019s mouth when it jerks out of the man\u2019s hold and bites him before swimming into the surf.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n “We just finished taking the hook out of his mouth. We were gonna go release him, and the shark just turned and bit me,” Meuse told CBS affiliate WINK<\/a>. The man did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further comment.\n<\/p>\n In the audio recording of a\u00a0911 call placed after the incident, another man can be heard saying that Meuse was awake and had a tourniquet around his leg to stop the bleeding, according to the outlet.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The Boca Grande Fire Department responded to the call about a shark bite at 10:55 p.m. local time and found the group of men at the south end of the island, Chief C.W. Blosser said in a public service announcement shared by Island TV for Boca Grande<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n The victim and the group he was with had been shark fishing and were holding the shark on land when the incident occurred.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe injuries were severe enough that it required air medical transport,\u201d Blosser continued in the announcement.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Following the attack, Meuse was scheduled to have surgery on his injured leg on Tuesday, Aug. 19.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n “I’m unlucky or lucky at the same time,\u201d he told WBBH from his hospital bed. \u201cBecause, you know, if it was a few inches one way, you know, I might not be here.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Two days after the dangerous incident, Meuse told WINK that he\u2019d go back to the beach that same day if he could leave the hospital. He also had a message for the shark that bit him: “See you next time.”\n<\/p>\n Officials warn that there are many sharks in the surrounding waterways, and it is possible to come into contact with them.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n “When you push on Mother Nature, she’ll push back,” Blosser tells PEOPLE. The fire chief confirms that the victim is doing well, as of Wednesday, Aug. 20.\n<\/p>\n Lemon sharks are a native species and are prohibited from being harvested from Florida state waters, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<\/a> says.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n