"Humans are Friends, Not Food."

On Setember 24, 2011 a local 21-year old islander was bitten by a shark not to far off of Anna Maria while he was spearfishing with some friends. The bite was not life threatening however, it was pretty bad. The bite which appears to be of a bull shark ripped the back of Charles Wickersham's right thigh off; so far that it reached the bone. Shortly after being bit, Wickersham was rushed to The Rod n' Reel Peir where paremedics waited for him, and after arriving they flew him on an emergency flight to Bayfront Medical Center in which he immediatly went into surgery to save his leg. A shark attack on Anna Maria is extremely rare, which is making local residents now think twice before jumping in the water whever they may please. Shark attacks are not something that we should constantly live in fear of, however we need to be aware that by going into the ocean we are going into the sharks territory and environment; and they are going to act as they normally would, which is feed themselves.