Australian surfer shares story after shark attack, losing leg; vows to return to water

An Australian surfer lost his right leg after a shark attacked him while surfing.

Kai McKenzie, 23, from Bonnie Hills, Australia, was surfing at North Shore Beach in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, about 240 miles northeast of Sydney, when the unthinkable happened.

"He saw the shark approach and was able to fight it off but suffered a severed right leg," states the GoFundMe started by his family's neighbor who aimed to raise money to support him in his recovery.

McKenzie is in stable condition and posting about the attack on Instagram . Despite the attack, he still plans to get back out on the water.

"I’ll be back in that water In no time!" he said in a photo he posted to Instagram , thanking people for their donations.

So far, it raised $173,852 AUD out of its $250,000 target.

"It’s so cool to see so many beautiful people support me," he said in the post. "There are so many messages to get back to, but I wanted to say a massive thanks to everyone for your generous donations on the GoFundMe page."

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What happened?

McKenzie was surfing on July 23 in the morning when he saw the "biggest shark I’ve ever seen" swimming towards him.

The species of shark was not specified in the GoFundMe or McKenzie's Instagram posts, but officials say it was a nearly 10-foot-long great white shark that attacked the surfer, reports the BBC .

McKenzie was able to fight off the shark and get to shore, where a retired police officer used his dog's leash as a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding before McKenzie was airlifted to the hospital.

"To be here right now just to [expletive] be able to hold my beautiful Eve and my family is everything to me," McKenzie said in the Instagram post.

Why do sharks bite people?

Sharks are not going out of their way to eat people, but their c uriosity gets the better of them.

They're sociable and curious fish that "are intelligent, highly inquisitive creatures," Alison Kock, a marine biologist, told Smithsonian Magazine .

That being said, they may take a "taste test" of things that grab their attention and seem unfamiliar, states National Geographic.

However, the consequences of what seems like a nibble to a shark might create a dire situation for a human.

How often do shark attacks happen?

Shark attacks are rare. In Australia, there were 15 shark attacks, four of which were fatal, in 2023, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File .

In total, 69 unprovoked bites and 22 provoked bites were reported worldwide last year.

What are the odds?

People are more likely to need rescuing from a rip current than being bitten by a shark. From 2004 to 2013, the museum recorded 341,294 rip current rescues and 379 shark attack bites.

Rip currents also caused 361 deaths, nearly the same number of total shark bites that happened, while sharks caused eight fatalities.

People are also more likely to die from being struck by lightning than they are to get bitten by a shark.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Australian surfer shares story after shark attack, losing leg; vows to return to water