When a state has newspaper headlines that read, “Avoid reptiles as a holiday gift,” then you know there’s a problem. Florida has a reputation as the number-one state in the US for invasive species. Over the past decade or so, more than 260 exotic animals (that we know of) have escaped their cages and fled into the Florida wilderness. We’re not only talking about lions and tigers and bears (oh my) but also rhinos, jaguars, wolves, orangutans, and just about any exotic creature you can imagine. Many of these escaped convicts remain at large.^[1] However, this list is concerned with the species that, as exotic pets set free in the wild, were able to stick around and multiply. As the wise Jeff Goldblum predicted in Jurassic Park, life will always find a way . . .

Many of us dream of having an exotic pet, like Frida Kahlo with her monkeys or Tippi Hedren’s pet lion. Well, in Florida, you don’t need any special license or certificate to own many types of exotic pets. At the University of Florida, researchers confirm that the pet trade is the main reason for the introduction of invasive species. Exotic animals often begin as innocent pets but are released or escape into the Florida wilderness, for one reason or another, where they can wreak some serious havoc. Kenneth Krysko, manager of the Florida Museum of Natural History, says, “It’s like some mad scientist has thrown these species together from all around the world and said, ‘hey, let’s put them all together and see what happens.’ ” He warns that if the trends continue, Florida may have more invasive species than native. A wildlife ecology professor at the University of Florida likened the situation to “a slow-burning fuse lit to an ecological bomb.” Meanwhile, the exotic pet industry in the US makes $15 billion annually, and people continue to buy that flashy, unique pet that sounds alluring but is severely dangerous to both them and society at large.

10 Burmese Python

The largest Burmese python discovered in the Florida wild was 5.4 meters (18 ft) long and weighed 58 kilograms (128 lb). The man who found it in the brush, being a run-of-the-mill Floridian, grabbed it by the neck and held it up to his friends to see how big it was. The python quickly wrapped its muscled body twice around the man’s legs and then reached his waist. The man’s quick-thinking friend handed him a 23-centimeter (9 in) blade, which the soon-to-be victim used to decapitate the python.^[2]

Now, it is illegal to buy a Burmese python in Florida and for good reason. People used to buy these tiny snakes, which would grow to be about 1.8 meters (6 ft) long in a year’s time. That’s either too much work or slightly horrifying, so the owners would release their beloved pets into the Everglades. This happened enough that the pythons started to breed and thrive in the wet, subtropical climate. In no time, the snakes, who can produce up to 100 hatchlings at once, became the apex predator in the region.

There was a glimmer of hope that native alligators would be able to control the rapid rise of Burmese pythons, but instead, the gators are actually being eaten themselves. In one famous case in 2005, a python tried to consume a 1.8-meter (6 ft) alligator whole, but the snake exploded in the attempt. These battles are becoming a common occurrence. Since the pythons have mostly killed all of the marsh rabbits, bobcats, and other small mammals, the Everglades now call upon hunters to eliminate as many pythons as they possibly can. The hunters are paid minimum wage by the state, plus $50 for every 1.2-meter (4 ft) snake and $25 for each additional foot. In about a year’s time, hunters have bagged 1,000 pythons.

9 Rhesus Macaque

Most people don’t know that you can ride an inner tube down the Silver River in Ocala, Florida, and likely see wild monkeys swinging from the trees as you float by. In the 1930s, the owner of a privately owned park had the harebrained idea to release an entire colony of rhesus macaques as a tourist attraction. The park staff, being the clever humans that they were, put the monkeys on an island in the Silver River for safekeeping. Surprise! They can swim. Now there are hundreds that are spreading like wildfire through Central Florida.

These feral troublemakers travel in large gangs, and they can be aggressive when they feel threatened. They have been terrorizing people in their own backyards, but that’s not even the worst part.^[3] Recently, it was discovered that these macaques carry a herpes virus that spreads to humans through excrement and other bodily fluids. Having feces flung at you from a primate is horrifying enough without the fear of contracting herpes, thank you very much.

On that note, above is a hilarious video of the rhesus macaques chasing down a terrified family. Enjoy.

8 Green Iguana

Iguanas are Florida’s most invasive species. This green menace creates mayhem in suburbia, from leaving gifts in swimming pools and gobbling up gardens to disrupting electrical grids and causing power outages. People discard iguanas as pets because they are more work than expected, as they grow up to 1.8 meters (6 ft) long and require a ton of food. During mating season, they become increasingly hostile and lash out at their owners by biting them. On top of that, they may just try to escape through the doggie door.

Sadly, Floridians have resorted to combating this pest problem they created by using blunt-force trauma. In other words, people are paid to sneak up on them in the dead of night while they sleep and bash in their skulls. Jenny Ketterlin, a wildlife biologist who works for this $63,000 project commissioned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, ensures the public that swiftly smashing their brains open is actually the most humane way to kill them.^[4] Well, it’s good practice for the zombie apocalypse, I suppose.

7 Nile Monitor: Largest Lizard In Africa

The Nile monitor is yet another escapee from the pet trade that is now calling Florida home, sweet home. Instead of soaking in the sun along the Nile Delta, where they belong, they have wormed their way through Cape Coral’s extensive canal system since the 1990s. These skilled swimmers can reach a gruesome 2.1 meters (7 ft) long. They consume whatever they can get, whether that’s a wasp nest, poisonous cane toad, or venomous rattlesnake. Like wolves, they hunt in packs. Occasionally, they pop up from the canals to make a surprise appearance in someone’s backyard. Hopefully they aren’t hungry because they’ve been known to snack on cats and dogs.

It is incredibly difficult to eradicate them, as nobody has ever found a single monitor lizard nest. There are estimated to be at least 1,000 of these giant beasts currently roaming the Florida canals, tidal creeks, and mangroves. These giant lizards may also be seen if you happen to look up, as they are expert tree-climbers, so beware.^[5]

6 Capybara

Do you know what doesn’t sound like an ideal pet? The largest rodent in the world. A capybara is basically like a 45-kilogram (100 lb) guinea pig that’s semiaquatic. It turns out, that’s not as cute as some pet owners thought it would be. Go figure! As of 2016, there were about 50 capybaras running amok in Florida. In its South American home, it has predators like the puma and jaguar, but in Florida, there are no coyotes or dogs big enough to take down a capybara.

It doesn’t help matters that they are social animals, traveling in groups through thick forest.^[6] As if Florida hunters didn’t have enough game to contend with, let’s throw a giant guinea pig in the mix.

5 ‘Testicle-Eating’ Pacu Fish

The South American pacu fish has an unusual bite because of its eerie, humanlike set of teeth. They are a cousin to the flesh-eating piranha, but instead of the razor-sharp teeth of their cousins, they have teeth that are blunt like our molars. The pacu also grows to be much, much larger. They typically reach about 22.7 kilograms (50 lb) throughout South-Central Florida.

Even though the pacu is normally not an imminent threat to men’s genitalia, it did receive the moniker of “testicle-eating” fish for a good reason. According to Henrik Carl, a fish expert at the National History Museum of Denmark, “There have been incidents in other countries, such as Papua New Guinea, where some men have had their testicles bitten off. They bite because they’re hungry, and testicles sit nicely in their mouth.”^[7] It’s no wonder why owners released these exotic fish! Suddenly, the bizarre allure of a human smile on a fish feels a bit more sinister.

4 Giant African Land Snails

The giant African land snail is not to be confused with any meager snail of small proportions. It is, in fact, the world’s largest terrestrial mollusk. We’re talking a 20-centimeter-long (8 in) snail that’s 10 centimeters (4 in) in diameter. This destructive little creature carries a parasitic worm that burrows into humans and spreads meningitis. It consumes at least 500 types of plants and causes permanent damage to the plaster and stucco of buildings. An adult lays up to 1,200 eggs in a single year, and with no natural predators in Florida, there’s no end in sight for its infestation.

It’s a bit of a mystery why giant African land snails populate South Florida. They are illegal to import into the United States without a permit, and no permits have ever been issued. While no one is positive, it seems the pet trade is to blame for the giant snail takeover. The last known invasion was in 1966, when a young boy smuggled three snails into the country as his secret pets. When his grandma found out, she made him set them free in the garden. It cost more than $1 million to eradicate the 18,000 snails that this incident created.

Another suspicion is that the current infestation of hundreds of thousands of giant African land snails in South Florida has been the result of religious ritual. Santeria is an Afro-Caribbean religion steeped in traditions that developed from the Cuban slave trade. Some of the religious rituals put emphasis on the juice of these snails. It’s suspected that they are smuggled into the country for this purpose.^[8]

3 Wild Boars

Wild boars have been roaming free throughout the Sunshine State since the 1500s, when Hernando de Soto brought them to Florida, not as a beloved pet but as a food source. Now, it has been over 500 years, and these feral pigs are nowhere near domesticated. Four million wild boars have spread across the United States, but in Florida alone, there are half a million.

They are an aggressive, tusked, 91-kilogram (200 pound) Old World swine that carry up to 24 diseases, from tuberculosis to cholera, and constantly consume farmers’ feed and even livestock. They are difficult to control, to say the least, as they are basically one giant muscle. There are also all the usual unpleasantries of invasive species, like damaging native plants and competing with native species. It basically messes up the proper chain of events that lets an ecosystem flourish.

As a result of their continued population growth, Florida hunters have trained bloodhounds to track them down at night. There are no rules that limit hunting to a certain season. There are no size, bag, or gender restrictions. Behind the white-tailed deer, the wild boar is the second most popular animal to hunt in Florida. Some inventive entrepreneurs are even flipping the boar problem on its head, making profit by serving them up on a platter and calling them prime pork.^[9] Bacon anyone?

2 African Clawed Frog

Before modern-day pregnancy tests were invented, doctors used an African clawed frog to assess the situation. The procedure involved exposing the frog to a woman’s urine, commonly via injection, and waiting for hours to see what would happen. If the frog laid eggs, it meant the woman was having a baby. This method of pregnancy detection remained popular until the 1970s, when modern pregnancy kits went on the market.

Needless to say, there was a high demand for African clawed frogs until this time. Thousands of these little critters were shipped from South Africa to labs and hospitals, not only in the US but all over the world. To supply the high demand, they were bred in captivity. They were easy to care for, so a pet trade developed around them in the 1950s and 1960s. From unwanted pets and escapees to doctors releasing them from their labs due to technology advancements, they multiplied fast. These frogs with clawed toes live for up to 15 years in the wild, and females create 27,000 eggs per reproductive cycle.^[10] Their growing numbers are alarming, to say the least.

1 ‘Man-Eater’ Nile Crocodile

The Nile crocodile can grow over 6 meters (20 ft) long and weigh as much as a small car. They eat whatever they can get hold of, including the occasional human (hence its description of “man-eater”). From sub-Saharan Africa, they were introduced to South Florida, presumably via the pet trade, even though whoever thought that a crocodile would make a great pet clearly didn’t have a permit.

Nile crocodiles are much more dangerous than the native alligator population in Florida. In six years, American alligators and crocodiles were the cause of 33 human fatalities, but in the same time period, the Nile crocodile killed 268 people. As far as we know, they have been surviving and breeding for at least six years in the Florida swamps.^[11] As if Floridians didn’t have enough monsters lurking in the water.

Assassinations do not always go as planned. While they can certainly still be messy when successful, they can be weird or even hilarious when they they fail. The ridiculousness of the plot and the weird or dumb reason that an assassination failed will often be exposed when we analyze the details of the attempt.

For instance, the king of Morocco once escaped assassination after ordering his attackers to stop shooting at him because he was dead. However, as we are about to find out, he was not alone. Here are ten crazy ways people avoided being assassinated.

10 King Hassan II Ordered His Attackers To Stop Firing Because He Was Dead

King Hassan II became the ruler of Morocco on February 26, 1961. He was not very popular at the beginning of his kingship. In fact, there were suggestions that he would not last six months on the throne. He definitely disappointed his critics when he went on to rule for 38 years.

However, dissident Moroccan military officers didn’t just sit around waiting for the king’s death. They launched several attempted coups to kill him. One such attempt happened on July 10, 1971, when some 2,000 rebellious soldiers invaded King Hassan’s palace during his 42nd birthday party and opened fire on the guests.

At least 100 people were killed, but none of them was King Hassan. Hassan is said to have approached the leader of the coup and looked at him straight in the eye while reciting verses of the Quran. The coup leader lost his nerves and could not shoot the king.

Another coup attempt followed a year later. On August 16, 1972, Hassan was flying from Paris to Morocco when his airplane was intercepted by four Royal Moroccan Air Force F-5 fighters as he approached Rabat airport. Hassan was a trained pilot and was in the cockpit at the time of the attack.

The rebellious pilots fired at the king’s airplane, damaging several parts, including the engine. However, Hassan pretended he was a regular pilot when he grabbed the radio and screamed, “Stop firing! The tyrant is dead!” The F-5s then broke off, thinking they had killed the king. Hassan’s airplane landed, and he had the coup plotters arrested.^[1]

9 Poor Bomb Placement Saved The Saudi Prince

Abdullah and Ibrahim al-Asiri are brothers declared wanted by Saudi authorities for terrorism. Both brothers were members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group was formed after the local Al-Qaeda factions in Saudi Arabia and Yemen merged in January 2009.

AQAP’s first operation was the assassination of Nayef Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, a one-time crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Prince Nayef was responsible for Saudi Arabia’s security at the time of the attempted assassination.

Abdullah informed the prince about his intention to denounce terrorism and offered to meet him in person. The prince was open to the meeting. In fact, he even had Abdullah flown into Jeddah on his private jet. However, the prince never realized that the surrender was a ruse.

Abdullah had a bomb inside his anus or his underwear and planned to detonate it when he got close enough to the prince. He did just that when he got within range. Fortunately, Abdullah was the only casualty since the force of the explosion went downward. Abdullah was blown in half, but the prince only sustained minor injuries.^[2]

8 Qin Shi Huang Ran Around A Pillar To Escape An Assassin

Emperor Qin Shi Huang ruled China between 220 and 210 BC. He defeated and unified the six warring Chinese states and made himself emperor. He also gave China its name and kicked off construction of the Great Wall of China.

Qin Shi Huang made some real enemies during his conquest of the warring Chinese states. One of his greatest enemies was the crown prince of Yan (one of the warring states), who he held hostage. The prince escaped and returned to Yan, where he was joined by General Fan.

General Fan was one of Qin Shi Huang’s commanders but had fled to Yan after falling out of favor with the emperor. The emperor already killed Yan’s family and was very interested in seeing him dead. The prince feared Qin Shi Huang could start a war with Yan just to get the general, so he ordered the assassination of the emperor.

The assassin was Jing Ke. However, Jing needed a good reason to get close to Qin Shi Huang. So he met with General Fan and asked that he gave him his head so that he could present it to the emperor. General Fan agreed and committed suicide. Jing and an assistant later delivered the general’s head and a box of maps to Qin Shi Huang.

The emperor was impressed with the gifts. His joy turned to horror when Jing held him by the sleeves and revealed a poisoned dagger hidden in the maps. Jing did not slaughter the emperor as planned but tried negotiating a peace deal. However, the nfrightened emperor fled before Jing could talk, and Jing followed in pursuit.

No soldier challenged Jing because of the policy of keeping weapons away from the emperor. The emperor could not draw his sword, either, because his robes were too large. So the entire court watched in disbelief as the emperor ran around a pillar and Jing followed behind with his dagger. The duo continued running around the pillar until Qin Shi Huang’s doctor threw a medicine bag at Jing.

The distraction gave Qin Shi Huang enough time to draw his sword, which he used to cut Jing at the thigh. The undeterred Jing threw the poisoned dagger at the emperor but missed. The bloodied Jing told Qin Shi Huang, “I failed because I tried to threaten you without killing you!” before the emperor’s gaurds killed him.^[3]

7 Thick Winter Clothing Saved King Louis XV

On January 5, 1757, Robert-Francois Damiens tried to assassinate King Louis XV of France with a knife. Louis XV was unpopular at the time, and there were lots of people interested in seeing him dead. The king remained indoors most of the time but had visited his sick daughter, Madame Victoire, at the time he was attacked.

Louis XV was returning to his palace when Damiens stabbed him in the side with a knife. The king started bleeding and feared he was dying. Upon his return to his bedroom, he confessed his infidelity to his queen. He asked for forgiveness and promised to confess to more acts of infidelity if he survived.

King Louis survived the assassination attempt because the injury was small and nonlethal. Apparently, the day was cold, and he had worn thick winter clothing. Most of the knife got stuck in the thick clothing, and only a small part of the tip managed to pierce his body, causing the small wound.^[4]

6 Charles De Gaulle Survived Because Of His Car’s Suspension

Sometimes, a good car is all you need to survive an assassination. Ask Charles de Gaulle, who was elected president of France in 1958.

In August 1962, de Gaulle had drawn the ire of the paramilitary group OAS after granting independence to Algeria. Algeria had been involved in a deadly war of independence against France, forcing de Gaulle to give in to their demands. However, the OAS wanted Algeria to remain a territory of France.

Twelve OAS personnel opened fire on de Gaulle’s vehicle as he was being driven from Elysee palace to Orly airport. The men fired 140 rounds at the vehicle, a Citroen DS. However, the president survived because the car had an excellent suspension.

The Citroen DS was an incredible piece of engineering for its time and even today. Today’s vehicles use springs for suspension. The Citroen DS used a fully independent hydropneumatic suspension. This allowed the car to always remain level, irrespective of its position relative to the road or its wheels.

Depending on the accounts, the heavy gunfire destroyed between two and four tires. Whatever the case, the car remained level, allowing the driver to escape despite the blown-out tires. Unfortunately, two of de Gaulle’s bodyguards were killed in the attack.^[5]

5 Nazi Salute Saves Hitler From Gunshot

There were many assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, and every one of them failed. One attempt occurred in 1938, when a man called Maurice Bavaud tried to shoot Hitler during a rally in Nuremberg.

Bavaud stood on an overpass with other spectators, hoping to shoot Hitler when he passed. However, the plan failed when other spectators gave the Nazi salute as Hitler passed. Their hands obstructed Bavaud’s view, preventing him from aiming his weapon at Hitler.

The undeterred Bavaud took a train to Berchtesgaden, where he knew Hitler was going after the rally. Then he heard Hitler was still in Munich. He took another train to Munich, where he was informed that Hitler was now heading for Berchtesgaden.

Bavaud remained at the train station because he had no money left. His plot was revealed after police arrested him for vagrancy. Police found a gun, a letter to Hitler, and a forged letter of introduction in Bavaud’s possession. He was sentenced to death and guillotined in 1941.^[6]

4 Assassination Attempt Ends After The Target Relocates

Apartheid was a tough time for black South Africans. Anti-apartheid movements like Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress sprang up to challenge the authority of the white government. The government responded by ordering the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) to assassinate members of these anti-apartheid groups.

Between 1986 and 1987, the CCB decided to assassinate Dr. Pallo Jordan and Ronnie Kasrils of the African National Congress. Since both men lived in London, the CCB decided to kill them with a Bulgarian umbrella: a type of umbrella that has been modified to fire poison darts from its tip.

The assassin was Trevor Floyd. Floyd flew to Britain, where he met one Jan Lourens, who was supposed to teach him how to use the weapon. Trouble started when some of the poison spilled on Lourens. Lourens soon recovered, and Floyd left for London with the umbrella.

Floyd later realized that the umbrella was too long, and the dart tip could get damaged if it touched the floor. So he used some tongs to cover the tip. However, the plot failed because Dr. Jordan had relocated from London. Kasrils was in London but was never where Floyd expected to find him. Floyd threw the umbrella into the River Thames.^[7]

3 Margaret Thatcher Escaped Assassination Because She Worked Late

We once wrote about the p. Tyr362HIS gene that make some humans require less sleep than others. The gene is also called the Thatcher gene after British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who frequently worked late into the night. It seems that gene once saved her from an assassination attempt.

On October 12, 1984, a 9-kilogram (20 lb) bomb ripped through the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where Thatcher and other members of her Conservative Party were having a conference. The bomb was planted by members of the Irish Republic Army (IRA) after several IRA prisoners in British prisons had starved themselves to death.

The bomb was placed in the hotel weeks earlier by Patrick Magee and a female IRA member. They set the bomb to explode at 2:53 AM 24 days later, when they expected members of the Conservative Party to lodge at the hotel for a conference.

Thatcher was in her suite’s sitting room with her private secretary when the bomb exploded. The blast hit the bathroom and bedroom but not the sitting room. However, other rooms in the hotel fared worse. Five people were killed, and 34 others were injured in the explosion.^[8]

2 An Assassination Attempt Failed Because The Assassins Were Idiots

In July 1835, Giuseppe Marco Fieschi tried to assassinate the French king, Louis Philippe. Fieschi was frustrated with life and had chosen to murder the king to settle his grievance with himself.

Fieschi planned the assassination with two other men, named Morey and Pepin. The trio built an elaborate gun they called the infernal machine. The gun was actually more than 20 guns merged into a single unit. They fired the device on July 28, 1835, as King Louis Philippe, his three sons, and staff rode by.

A ball missed King Louis Philippe’s head. However, his horse and the horses of two other people, including a prince, were hit. Eighteen people were killed, and several more were wounded. Fieschi himself was seriously injured by his weapon. The king and princes survived.

Fieschi received excellent medical care, which was surprising to him. This made him think the crown would spare his life if he exposed his accomplices, so he gladly implicated Morey and Pepin at trial. Fieschi realized we was wrong, though, when he, Morey, and Pepin received death sentences. A fourth accomplice received 20 years in prison, and a fifth was acquitted.^[9]

1 Nero’s Attempt To Kill His Mother Failed After She Swam Ashore

Roman emperor Nero had a troubled relationship with his mother, Agrippina. Agrippina wanted to control Nero’s government—something Nero disapproved of. When Nero protested, she started telling everyone who cared to listen that Nero was homosexual.

At another time, she supported Nero’s wife, Octavia, during a fight over Nero’s infidelity. Nero had finally had enough and decided to get rid of his mother once and for all. First, Nero tampered with the ceiling above Agrippina’s bed so that it would collapse on her while she slept. The plot failed.

Nero later sent Agrippina away from the palace. However, he later gifted her a party boat as an apology. In truth, the boat was rigged with a weight that would cause it to sink when it was out at sea. When the weight was deployed, however, Agrippina swam to shore.^[10]

After this failure, Nero had his mother killed the old-fashioned way: He sent assassins to stab Agrippina to death. Nero blamed Agermus, Agrippina’s bodyguard, for her assassination and had him executed.

A man is considered lucky when something good happens to him by chance. On a daily basis, someone, somewhere, will get lucky. This includes escaping death, dismissal from work, automobile accidents, heartbreaks, bankruptcy, among others. In all of these categories of escapees is a very small group of people we find exceptionally lucky—those who narrowly escaped death by a shark attack.

It is estimated that there are about 400 to 500 species of sharks in the world’s oceans. While sharks are top predators of the oceans and can be very dangerous, they rarely become aggressive toward humans—only about 12 species have been known to attack people. However, they have caused some deaths and given other people permanent scars and disabilities, but they are not the man killers of myth and Hollywood. Over the past five years, the average number of unprovoked shark attacks per year is 80, but 2020 only saw 57 attacks, with only ten of those proving fatal.

However, an encounter with a shark is one that can never be forgotten if the victim manages to live through the experience. When a person escapes a shark attack, it calls for celebration. This is a list of ten people who narrowly escaped death by a shark attack.

Related: Top 10 Times Animals Held Grudges Against Humans And Took Revenge

10 Saved by a Drone

Matt Wilkinson is a professional surfer who was paddling on his board near Sharpes Beach in Australia in 2020. Unknown to him, a shark was trailing him. He heard a splash in the water beneath his feet but continued surfing when he looked around and saw nothing. Luckily for him, a drone operator, Beau Monks, was using a drone to survey the water when he sighted the shark.

Monks quickly broadcasted a warning to Wilkinson that a shark was on the loose and too close to him for comfort. He asked Matt to head for the beach, and he did. Matt didn’t realize how close he was to the shark until he returned to the beach and saw the video footage. The shark was about to attack Matt on the leg when it may have been distracted by the noise from the drone. But for the drone operator, Matt Wilkinson could have possibly lost his life that day.^[1]

By the way, 18 of those 57 unprovoked attacks in 2020 occurred in Australia! The second most of any country on the list.

9 Spearfishing Surprise

In 2019, Jonathan Hernandez, a professional boat captain and fisherman from Florida, was spearfishing with friends off Abaco Island in the Bahamas when he was attacked by a shark. The effect of the attack made him think that the fishing boat had run him over. Hernandez was bitten on the left calf but managed to swim to safety before the shark could do more harm to him. Luckily, he and his friends managed to tourniquet the wound within about 60 to 90 seconds of the attack, preventing further blood loss.

Hernandez notes the attack was likely the result of the increase in tourist-driven local shark feeding businesses, which allow sharks to be fed by humans. This, in turn, has let the sharks in the area associate humans with food. The shark that attacked Hernandez was out to feed, and his story could have ended in total tragedy had he been at sea alone that day without anyone to help. His attack happened just days before a young college student was also killed by a shark while snorkeling in the Bahamas.^[2]

8 Missed Me by a…Foot

In 2019, a 19-year old student named Austin Reed narrowly escaped a shark attack when he was surfing with his brothers and friends at about 2 pm at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina. The shark grabbed Reed’s foot and pulled. By the time Reed managed to pull his foot out, it looked as if a knife had cut across the left and right side of it.

Reed was taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington where he underwent surgery for the injury he suffered.^[3]

Oh, the United States had the most unprovoked attacks in 2020—coming in at 33. However, only three of those resulted in death. While the U.S. topped the list in overall attacks, Australia was number one in deadly attacks: they had 6 in 2020.

7 Fight Off a Shark, Take Selfie.

Braxton Rocha, a 27-year-old spear fisherman, was swimming about 60 yards off the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island when he was attacked by a tiger shark in 2015. Rocha told reporters that the tiger shark had his leg in its jaw at one point during the attack. His instinct kicked in, and he started to fight the shark. Luckily, the shark let go of his leg after he punched it on the head. Rocha managed to swim back to safety with his leg almost torn off his body. He was later assisted by a friend and fellow fisherman, Shannon Pasco, who got him into an ambulance.

Rocha ended up taking selfies and videos of his injury which he uploaded on Youtube and Instagram. He underwent a three-hour surgery and it took 100 staples to close his wounds.^[4]

6 Really…in the Middle of a Competition

Mick Fanning, a three-time world surfing champion, managed to win the battle for his life when he tangled with a shark while surfing. Aside from being a surfing legend, Fanning accomplished a new feat when he fought off a shark attack in the middle of a competition in South Africa. He was a finalist in the J-Bay Open Competition when the shark struck, and the incident was captured on television. Fanning was waiting for his first wave of the final when a fin surfaced behind him.

Fanning did not notice the shark in time. When he did, he padded away, but it was too late as the animal had already noticed him and was soon in pursuit. The shark collided with his surfboard, which made him lose balance and drop into the water. Fanning was able to chase it off by punching it on its back, avoiding injury. Rescue boats located nearby quickly intervened, and Fanning was ferried to safety. The most dramatic element of this near-death encounter is that Fanning’s mother watched the whole incident unfold on television. At one point, she feared that her son would not make it out of the ocean alive.^[5]

This attack occurred in 2015, and coincidentally, Matt Wilkinson was also competing in this competition.

5 Overboard for 28 Hours

Brett Archibald fell overboard during a surfing trip to Indonesia in 2013. He fell at night, and as it was dark, no one saw him go into the water. Archibald initially thought the end had come, but that was not to be. He managed to stay afloat for 28 hours.

Trouble began for Brett when he experienced a case of food poisoning mixed with seasickness from the choppy waters. He woke up in the middle of the night and started throwing up. He then went to the railing of the boat to continue vomiting, and the next thing he noticed was that he had fallen overboard. While he was in the water, he got bumped by seagulls and a shark. He was lucky that the shark thought he was a distasteful meal; it turned away without harming him. After 28-hours of agony, he was spotted by an Australian skipper, one of many boats searching for Archibald, taking him for medical treatment after being rescued.^[6]

4 Face-to-Face with a Great White

Rodney Fox, a respected filmmaker and conservationist, cheated death at the age of 23. He was attacked by a great white shark while competing in the South Australia Spearfishing Championship at Aldinga Beach, South of Adelaide, on December 8, 1963. During the encounter with the great white shark, Rodney made several unsuccessful attempts to subdue the animal, including an attempt to gouge out its eyes. Fox’s hand was also badly damaged when it went into the shark’s mouth as he tried to push it away.

At one point, the shark succeeded in pulling him toward the bottom of the ocean, but Fox was lucky to escape before it could kill him. His injuries were so bad that he needed 462 stitches to close them up. His ribs were shattered, his diaphragm was punctured, and his lungs were ripped open. For many people, the attack would be the excuse they needed to give up on ocean diving, and the world would have pardoned Fox if he did so. However, the attack made him dedicate sixty years of his life to protecting sharks.^[7]

3 Man Fights Off Shark to Save Partner’s Life

On a Saturday morning in August 2020, Chantelle Doyle, an environmental scientist, was up early to work on her Ph.D. She was staying with her partner Mark Rapley and their three-year-old son, Hamilton, at her parents’ place near the beaches of Port Macquarie, New South Wales. She and her partner decided to go surf and get some fresh air that day. They were both surfing at Shelly Beach when a 10-foot great white shark attacked her, causing severe lacerations to her right leg.

Rapley’s reaction made news bulletins across the country and parts of the globe. Seeing his partner in trouble, he paddled frantically toward her, jumped on her back, and rained punches down on the animal’s head and near its eye until it let go and slipped away. Other people who were surfing nearby also joined in the rescue. Like Rodney Fox, Doyle and Rapley have started working toward better understanding and conservation of this much-feared creature.^[8]

2 Punching for Survival

In a narrow escape encounter, Dylan Nacass managed to punch his way to survival during a shark attack while surfing at Bells Beach in Australia in 2020. Upon noticing the shark, Nacass tried to surf as fast as he could, but the animal tracked him, gave chase, and latched onto his leg. Nacass responded to the attack by punching the predator twice.

A local man named Matt Sedunary noticed the struggle and moved in to save Nacass. At first, Sedunary thought that Nacass was joking with his friends when he heard him screaming. Then, Sedunary went to investigate the cause of the screaming and saw a fin. At that moment, it dawned on him that Dylan was under attack by a shark.^[9]

1 13-Year-Old Shark Attack Survivor

In 2018, Keane Webre-Hayes managed to survive a great white shark attack at the age of thirteen. He is one of the youngest shark attack survivors we know today. He was looking for lobsters in Leucadia, California, just north of San Diego, when he was attacked by the animal. Luckily for him, three men who were in a kayak nearby helped him get to the shore.

He was immediately airlifted to a hospital, where he underwent surgery. The teenager expressed his willingness to return to the ocean immediately after he suffered the attack, but he didn’t get his chance until nine months later. He returned to the ocean in spectacular fashion, spearfishing in deep ocean water.^[10]