Great white shark warning
The seal was found on shores near Ocean Shores and the tests confirmed it was bitten in half at the rib cage by a great white. They say that judging by where the seal was bitten the shark was likely a rather long and large one with very strong teeth.
“It was a clean bite right below the rib cage,” Craig Bartlett, a spokesperson for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, told KOMO News 4. “Other than half the body missing, the seal was in good shape.”
Bartlett added that following a necropsy it was “determined the bite was from an 18-foot great white shark.”
The area is where seals feed on smelt in close to shore so the Ocean Shores police and the DFW believe that the great white might still be nearby and have reason to come in close to the beaches. “I would stay out of the water for a while,” Bartlett said.
Death by sharks in U.S.
Shark attacks in the U.S. are not common, but do occur. Since 2010 there have been five deaths by sharks, two in California, two in Hawaii and one in Florida. In three of the deaths the killer was believed to be a great white shark.
Since 1990 there have been 28 deaths in the U.S. attributed to sharks. Most were at the jaws of Tiger sharks or great whites. Other states that experienced shark attacks since 1990 were North Carolina and in one case, Virginia.
There has never been a recorded death by a shark in Washington state.