A single shark might be responsible for South Padre Island attacks according to Cameron Park Zoo expert

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - On July 4th, multiple shark attacks were reported on South Padre Island, and while it might seem strange to see sharks in that area, there are 40 species that are native to Texas waters.

Cameron Park Zoo’s General Curator Gordon Henley explains that since they have poor vision, sharks rely on the earth’s magnetic field to navigate the waters and can easily mistake a human for prey.

“Misidentification of what the food is, so a lot of the times they’ll bite, see what it is... realize it’s not food and leave it and swim off,” Henley said.

Henley believes that the crowds at the beach may have confused the shark on what is food and what is not and says that a single shark may be the cause of all these attacks.

“The ones in south padre island are probably the result of a single animal that is acting as a rogue,” Henley said. “They are incidental attacks, so the shark is actually just biting them, realizing they are not food and letting them go.”

Henley notes that in Texas, shark attacks are very rare since only 10 people have been attacked in the state since 2012 and advises beach goers to listen on local authorities on when to go in the water.

“I guarantee that there are people actively going down there to see if they can find the shark, what the future holds there has yet to be seen,” Henley said.

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