Woman swimming off Harpswell killed by shark in 1st such Maine fatality

[jpak]

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/07/27/person-injured-in-shark-attack-off-harpswell/

A woman swimming off Bailey Island in Harpswell on Monday afternoon was attacked and killed by a shark in what one expert says is the first such fatality recorded in Maine waters.

The woman has not been identified pending notification of her family.

She was swimming offshore near homes on White Sails Lane when a witness saw her being attacked by what appeared to be a shark, the Maine Marine Patrol said.

Two kayakers brought the victim and another woman to shore, where a crew of Harpswell emergency responders met them. The woman died at the scene.

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[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Holy crap!

[soothsayer]

2. Poor thing

[greenjar_01]

3. Damn

Weird for a shark to attack a lone swimmer.

Water must be warm up there these days.

[OregonBlue]

5. What I thought too. Warmer water. So sorry for her and her family.

[smirkymonkey]

10. The water in Maine is usaully freezing cold!

Even on the southern coast. I go up for vacation sometimes to visit my sister and it's so cold it's paralyzing.

Of course, I have not been in the ocean there in years, since I stick to the pool these days. It's just never been worth it. I don't mind cold water, but the water up there is just frigid. However maybe that has changed over the past few years, I haven't bothered with it.

[2naSalit]

4. Holy cow!

I lived in Harpswell for four years as a kid, still know a few people there who live on the islands, we lived on the peninsula.. The school was still a one room affair when we moved there.

My condolences to the family. The only sharks I ever saw, and I was at the shore all the time, were sand sharks which aren't very big.

I can imagine that warming ocean waters will force tropic water inhabitants northward. Here in the northern Rockies we are seeing species from elsewhere migrating here and starting to displace indigenous species.

[jpak]

7. It's the increase in seal populations that is attracting the GWs

Same thing is happening off Cape Cod.

[2naSalit]

8. So I've heard.

I also find that interesting and wonder, is it around the north shore, the south shore or way out on the ocean side of the Cape? It used to be that as the gulf stream banks off the south of the cape, a different profile of species can be found there compared to the Bay side and north of there, like to the Gulf of Maine, Nova Scotia.

With GWs, I guess it wouldn't matter but I am interested about the seals.

[GulfCoast66]

11. So sad. But not a result of Global Warming.

Rather, we have been protecting sharks and seals. There are seals back in the area and the Great Whites Sharks that feed on them.

When really large sharks mistake humans for their prey it doesn’t end well for the human.

I am sad for her family and friends. But glad we are getting this part of the ecosystem back in order.

[Baclava]

6. Sounds like a Great White attack from below, flipped her out of the water, like a seal

The neighbor who called 9-1-1 tells me she saw a woman thrown up in the air while swimming between this shore line and the first lobster buoy. Two witnesses say the woman died in what appears to have been a shark attack.

Link to tweet

[smirkymonkey]

9. Unusual for so far north.

I just warned my brother. They are heading for vacation to Cape Elizabeth in Maine which is not all that far from where this happened. A bit further south. Very frightening.

The poor woman. My condolences to her family. What a terrible way to go.