This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Brahs beware: several large sharks were spotted off the coast of Huntington Beach on Sunday afternoon, prompting the closure of two miles of beach.
The L.A. Times reports that "several" 8-foot long sharks were spotted about 150 yards offshore. Additionally, a Huntington Beach city helicopter saw three sharks, estimated to be about 10 to 12 feet in length. Perhaps they were coming to avenge the death of their decapitated brother?
Sunset Beach was closed between Warner Avenue and Anderson—two miles of popular beach, on a particularly sweltering day. According to KTLA, lifeguards will be re-evaluating the sharksuation by using "aerial reconnaissance" (i.e. helicopter surveillance) this morning to determine whether the beach is safe to reopen.
Just last week, a 52-year-old female swimmer was bitten by a shark in Newport Beach, about 15 miles south of Sunday's shark sightings in Huntington. And remember this great white that was spotted leaping out of the water? Also in Huntington Beach.
"It's kind of hard to believe," one beach goer told KTLA on Sunday. "It's like something out of a movie." What, like this one?
Another man interviewed by KTLA said it was his first time in California. "You obviously want to get out and kind of hang out at the beach but not being able to do that is a little bit disappointing," he said. KTLA's Elizabeth Espinosa countered icily, "Sir, we know you may be disappointed, but we also want you to come back, so you're going to need your life." Wow. Real talk, though.
However, as this map tracking fatal shark attacks in California proves, the odds of not dying at the hands (jaws?) of a shark are in our favor: there have been only 14 fatal shark attacks since 1900.
