Alabama teen who barely survived shark assault presses lawmakers for brand new alert system

An Alabama teen who narrowly survived a fierce shark assault final yr mentioned she hopes a proposed alert system earlier than state lawmakers will help hold others protected within the water.

Lulu Gribbin, now 16, was certainly one of three folks bitten by a shark on June 7, 2024, throughout a string of assaults off the Florida Panhandle. She misplaced her left hand and a portion of her leg. On Wednesday, she requested Alabama lawmakers to help a proposed shark assault alert system.

The invoice by Republican Rep. David Faulkner would set up an alert system, much like the Amber Alert system, that will situation a discover to the general public when there’s been an unprovoked shark assault within the neighborhood.

“Ninety minutes earlier than me, there was one other shark assault a pair miles down the coast,” Gribbin mentioned. Had she recognized about that assault, she and her good friend wouldn’t have ventured into the water that day, she mentioned. “This invoice will assist forestall future assaults and accidents.”

The Alabama Home Public Security and Homeland Safety Committee superior the invoice Wednesday. It now strikes to the total Alabama Home of Representatives.

Gribbin and her good friend had been diving for sand {dollars} earlier than the assault. They have been driving the waves again to the seashore when her good friend screamed, “shark!”

“I noticed a giant shadow, however all of us simply began swimming for our lives,” She recalled. She mentioned she tried to stay calm, remembering that sharks have been presupposed to be interested in frantic movement. Then the shark attacked her and her good friend.

“My hand was bitten first. I keep in mind simply lifting it out of the water, and I used to be shocked as a result of there was no hand there. I could not really feel it due to all of the shock I used to be in. Then the shark latched onto my leg,” she recalled.

A person she describes as a hero ran to tug her from the water. She blacked out and got here to on the shore the place a physician and different medical staff, who have been on the seashore that day, rushed to avoid wasting her. “I keep in mind being centered simply to maintain my eyes open and to breathe, to only have the ability to make it to the hospital,” she mentioned.

CBS affiliate WIAT reported she was flown to Sacred Coronary heart Hospital in Pensacola the place her mother mentioned the primary phrases she spoke after the respiratory tube was eliminated have been “I made it.”

The station reported Gribbin shared final month what she meant by that expression: “Via the ache, agony, sorrow and grief I made it,” she mentioned.

Her prolonged restoration has been documented on social media. As she visited the Alabama Statehouse, folks often stopped to ask for pictures and to inform her that her story has been an inspiration.

Sharks generally discovered however assaults are uncommon

Whereas sharks are generally discovered within the waters off Alabama and Florida, shark assaults are uncommon, mentioned Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Pure Historical past’s shark analysis program. He mentioned there are between 50 and 90 unprovoked bites all over the world annually. And a trio of bites in a single day in shut proximity is extraordinarily uncommon, he mentioned.

He mentioned, usually talking, the info exhibits that one shark chunk doesn’t enhance the probability of one other taking place quickly. Nonetheless, Naylor mentioned climate circumstances that day doubtless introduced an abundance of small fish nearer to shore.

“The bait fish have been very shut into shore alongside that very same seashore and sharks have been following them. However on any day in Alabama, you possibly can see 20 or 30 bull sharks 400 meters offshore, however they only do not work together with the general public as a result of they’re much farther away,” Naylor mentioned.

Naylor famous that rip currents kill way more folks than sharks annually. 4 folks have been killed worldwide in shark assaults final yr. The U.S. Lifesaving Affiliation estimated there are about 100 deaths annually within the U.S. from rip currents.

A database run by the Florida Museum of Pure Historical past and the College of Florida confirmed that shark assaults decreased dramatically in 2024 and was far beneath the annual common.  Half of U.S. assaults came about in Florida final yr, persevering with a yearly pattern.

Whereas the proposal would solely influence the Alabama coast, Faulkner hopes different states will pursue related techniques or that federal laws would broaden its use.

“There had been a shark assault simply down the seashore, and but she had no discover. And I felt like at the present time, that is one thing we should not let occur,” Faulkner mentioned.

The invoice, which might title the alert system for Gribbin, was modified to situation an alert solely when an unprovoked assault occurred off the coast.

An earlier model would have allowed an alert for an “imminent hazard” from sharks. There have been issues from seashore communities that language was too obscure and will result in an extreme alerts, inflicting panic and doubtlessly hurting the tourism trade.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday urged lawmakers to approve the laws, saying it will likely be an “added software” to maintain folks protected, calling the teenager “an inspiration and an superior instance of braveness.”

Gribbin additionally launched the Lulu Robust Basis, WIAT reported, and he or she needs to assist amputees get prosthetics quicker, and to make them lighter.

“Via my basis I might like to have youngsters have the ability to expertise what I’ve skilled and have simply a tremendous life an amputee,” she mentioned.