Clatsop County, Ore. – Police say a shark has attacked a surfer north of Cannon Beach off the Oregon coast.
Oregon State Police spokesman Lt. Steve Mitchell says that 29-year-old Joseph Tanner of Portland, Oregon, was apparently bitten while surfing near Indian Beach at Ecola State Park on Monday afternoon.
Mitchell says Tanner was bitten in his upper thigh and lower leg.
Tanner was stabilized at the scene and flown to a Portland hospital with serious injuries.
There hasn’t been a shark attack off the Oregon coast since 2013, according to Ralph S. Collier, director of the Global Shark Attack File and president of the Shark Research Committee.
Collier said shark attacks off the West Coast most often happen from August through October. Attacks are rare, he said, and more often than not happen in locations where there have been previous attacks.
Authorities are investigating.
