{"id":354526,"date":"2026-07-28T03:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/354526\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T03:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:06:09","slug":"dad-to-be-badly-bitten-by-shark-while-trying-to-protect-pregnant-fiancee-on-florida-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/354526\/","title":{"rendered":"Dad-to-be badly bitten by shark while trying to protect pregnant fianc\u00e9e on Florida beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Georgia man in his early 20s is recovering after experiencing\u00a0a shark bite<\/a>\u00a0while protecting his pregnant fianc\u00e9e at a Florida beach.<\/p>\n

The man was wading in waist-deep water near the Dunlawton Beach Approach in Daytona Beach Shores shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Saturday \u2014 just hours before this year\u2019s Shark Week kicked off \u2014 when a shark estimated to be about 4 feet long bit his left foot and ankle, Volusia County Beach Safety officials told Fox News Digital in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was treated on scene by Beach Safety personnel and transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries,\u201d officials said.<\/p>\n

The victim was identified by FOX 5 Atlanta as Jacorey High of Henry County, Georgia. High said his first priority was getting his pregnant fianc\u00e9e safely out of the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized right away it was a shark because of the way it bit down on my foot, but I was more worried about getting my fianc\u00e9e out of the water,\u201d\u00a0High told FOX 5 Atlanta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

High said the shark continued to pursue him as he tried to escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it came up to try to get my arm. So I had to push it away from me. I ran, and it tried to get my other leg,\u201d he told the station.<\/p>\n

A Georgia man was bitten by a shark while protecting his pregnant fianc\u00e9e at a Florida beach. Lori Long via FOX 51 Gainesville<\/p>\n

Jacorey High, 22, is recovering at a Florida hospital. FOX 5 Atlanta<\/p>\n

He described the shark as gray on top and about as tall as the distance from his waist to his feet, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0reaching the shore<\/a>, High realized the severity of his injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really feel it until I got to the hospital, when they started giving me medicine for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Doctors performed surgery on High\u2019s foot after the attack, and he told the station he expects\u00a0his recovery\u00a0could take about three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoping that it didn\u2019t really mess up anything important in my foot so that I can go back to work,\u201d High said.<\/p>\n

A medium-sized shark attacked High while swimming in shallow water. Jacorey High<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital previously reported that shark experts have urged\u00a0beachgoers to stay alert\u00a0<\/a>this summer as sightings have increased along several U.S. coastlines.<\/p>\n

Marine biologist Mike Heithaus of Florida International University told Fox News Digital that\u00a0shark bites<\/a>\u00a0remain unusual, even during the busy summer beach season.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople should always be aware of local conditions and listen to lifeguards, but shark bites are very rare,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n

He recommended that people avoid murky water, that they stay away from areas where large schools of fish are visible and that they avoid places where other people are actively fishing.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to High for further comment about what happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shark Week 2026<\/a>\u00a0runs from July 26 to Aug. 1 on the Discovery Channel.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Georgia man in his early 20s is recovering after experiencing\u00a0a shark bite\u00a0while protecting his pregnant fianc\u00e9e at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,16538,144373,19589,4278],"class_list":["post-354526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-shark-attack","tag-shark-week","tag-sharks","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}