MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama teenager who narrowly survived a fierce shark assault final 12 months mentioned she hopes a proposed alert machine ahead of state lawmakers can lend a hand stay others secure within the water.
Lulu Gribbin, now 16, was once one in every of 3 other people bitten by way of a shark on June 7, 2024, all the way through a string of assaults off the Florida Panhandle. She misplaced her left hand and a portion of her leg. On Wednesday, she requested Alabama lawmakers to reinforce a proposed shark assault alert machine.
The invoice by way of Republican Rep. David Faulkner would identify an alert machine, very similar to the Amber Alert machine, that might factor a realize to the general public when there may be been an unprovoked shark assault within the neighborhood.
“90 mins ahead of me, there was once every other shark assault a pair miles down the coast,” Gribbin mentioned. Had she identified about that assault, she and her good friend do not have ventured into the water that day, she mentioned. “This invoice will lend a hand save you long run assaults and injuries.”
Whilst the proposal would handiest affect the Alabama coast, Faulkner hopes different states will pursue equivalent techniques or that federal law would enlarge its use.
“There have been a shark assault simply down the seashore, and but she had no realize. And I felt like at the moment, that’s one thing we shouldn’t let occur,” Faulkner mentioned.
The Alabama Area Public Protection and Hometown Safety Committee complicated the invoice Wednesday. It now strikes to the total Alabama Area of Representatives.
The invoice, which might identify the alert machine for Gribbin, was once modified to factor an alert handiest when an unprovoked assault passed off off the coast.
An previous model would have allowed an alert for an “impending threat” from sharks. There have been issues from seashore communities that language was once too imprecise and may just result in an over the top collection of indicators, inflicting panic and probably hurting the tourism trade.
Gribbin and her good friend have been diving for sand greenbacks ahead of the assault. They have been using the waves again to the seashore when her good friend screamed, “shark!”
“I noticed a large shadow, however all of us simply began swimming for our lives,” She recalled. She mentioned she attempted to stay calm, remembering that sharks have been meant to be drawn to frantic movement. Then the shark attacked her and her good friend.
“My hand was once bitten first. I bear in mind simply lifting it out of the water, and I used to be shocked as a result of there was once no hand there. I couldn’t really feel it as a result of all of the surprise I used to be in. Then the shark latched onto my leg,” she recalled.
A person she describes as a hero ran to drag her from the water. She blacked out and got here to at the shore the place a physician and different clinical employees, who have been at the seashore that day, rushed to avoid wasting her. “I bear in mind being centered simply to stay my eyes open and to respire, to only be capable to make it to the health center,” she mentioned.
Her long restoration has been documented on social media. As she visited the Alabama Statehouse, other people continuously stopped to invite for images and to inform her that her tale has been an inspiration.
Whilst sharks are repeatedly discovered within the waters off Alabama and Florida, shark assaults are uncommon, in line with professionals. There have been 47 unprovoked bites final 12 months international, in line with the College of Florida’s World Shark Assault Document.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday steered lawmakers to approve the law, pronouncing it is going to be an “added software” to stay other people secure.
“Lulu is actually an inspiration and a terrific instance of braveness. Let’s be Lulu robust and get this invoice to my table so I will signal it into regulation,” Ivey mentioned in a commentary issued by way of her workplace.
