Girl, 14, Battles Shark With Boogie Board

Quick-thinking teen thwarts New Zealand shark attack
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 2, 2010 1:45 AM CST
Updated Feb 2, 2010 6:29 AM CST
Girl, 14, Battles Shark With Boogie Board
"I showed Dad and he didn't really believe me but then I showed him my wetsuit with all the blood coming out and he believed me," Lydia said.   (Shutter Stock)

A 14-year-old New Zealand girl managed to fight off an attacking 5-foot shark armed only with a boogie board. Lydia Ward was attacked after stepping on a "big, gray, slippery thing" in waist-high water off the southern city of Invercargill. The shark wrapped its jaws around her waist but let go after she whacked it with the board, she tells the New Zealand Herald.

Lydia managed to escape serious injury but was treated in a local hospital for two of the deeper puncture wounds. The teen has no plans to return to the ocean any time soon. "It sort of put me off the beach, but it's still fine with rivers and lakes," she said. "I'll stick to them now." (More shark attack stories.)

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