Ben Gerring, the surfer who lost his right leg to a great white earlier this week in Australia, died in the hospital on Friday evening.
Following the attack, Falcon Bay beach in Mandurah in Western Australia, the area where Gerring had been surfing, was closed. A 14 foot great white, which was said to fit the criteria of a hazardous shark, according to Fisheries Australia, was reportedly caught in the area after the attack, although it could not be confirmed that it was the same shark responsible for the attack.
WA Greens MP, Lynn MacLaren, criticized the killing of the shark, saying it should have been confirmed it was the shark responsible for the incident before killing it.
“They went out, they caught a very, very large shark, possibly a great white, and that shark was possibly in the area a day after a surfer was attacked,” MacLaren reportedly said.
Image: dailymail.com
Gearing, 29, who had recently found out his fiancee, was pregnant with his child, fought for his life at Royal Perth hospital after being admitted with his right leg missing above the knee. He had been transferred to the hospital after he had been rescued by surfers and taken care of by paramedics on the beach following the attack.
He wouldn’t have been in the water in the first place if he had known a shark had been sighted in the area that same day, says his family.
