Victim of shark attack in Texas collapses the moment she kicked the animal because she thought it was a “giant fish” and now reveals the extent of her injuries

A mother whose calf was killed by a shark on a Texas beach on July 4 has spoken out about the horrific experience, saying she initially thought the predator was just a “giant fish.”

Tabatha Sullivent was in the water off South Padre Island with her daughter and husband when the shark began chasing them.

She said they were passing a sandbar when the shark followed her into the shallow water and attacked her.

“I turned around and just saw something gray in the water. I just kicked it because I thought it was a huge fish coming towards us. Then I think it grabbed my leg,” Sullivent told CBS News Texas from her hospital bed.

The bull shark, a creature with one of the most powerful bites in the animal kingdom, sank its teeth into her lower leg and had no intention of letting go.

Sullivent’s leg is seen bleeding and falling into the sea as the group that pulled her out of the water surrounds her

Sullivent said her husband bravely fought the animal, jumping into the water and grabbing her.

He was also bitten twice.

Beachgoers pulled her out of the water and first responders were soon on site to tend to her gaping wound.

“If my husband and everyone else on the beach hadn’t intervened immediately, and if there hadn’t been people pulling me out – not just pulling me out, but jumping between the shark and me – I don’t think it would have stopped,” she said.

According to initial reports, a total of four people encountered the shark in the water. The Sullivents were bitten, while two others escaped with minor injuries.

Social media videos of the attack show Sullivent lying in the sand, one dorsal fin swimming back and forth near the shore.

Blood from her wound can be seen turning the water dark red as first responders wrap a tourniquet around her leg.

Blood from her wound can be seen staining the water washed ashore dark red as first responders wrap a tourniquet around her leg.

A dorsal fin can be seen swimming back and forth near the shore while the woman lies in the sand

The incident occurred Thursday morning on South Padre Island, Texas, and the woman had to be pulled ashore by a rescue team.

“My leg is as good as gone,” she told FOX Dallas-Fort Worth about a day after the attack.

“It was flushed out today. It’s down to the bone. It didn’t go through the bone.”

Sullivent will need to undergo several reconstructive surgeries, but doctors are optimistic that she will be able to keep her leg and walk again.

“I can move my toes and my ankle. My bone structure is good. I will probably need physical therapy for sure,” Sullivent said.

On the day of the attack, the couple from North Texas celebrated their daughter Skylar’s 15th birthday; the following day was their 16th wedding anniversary.

The Sullivents didn’t expect to spend their special day together in a hospital room, but they are happy to be alive and together.

“Someone or something was definitely watching over us,” Sullivent said.

Sullivent said her bite went “to the bone.”

First responders quickly arrived on scene to bring Sullivent to safety

Tabatha was taken to a nearby hospital where she is in stable condition. Her husband Cary Sullivent (right) remains by her side

Her daughter Skylar released an update on her parents’ condition shortly after the attack.

“My mom is trying to rest as much as possible and plan her path forward. Recovery will be a long process, but I know she will get through it,” Skylar wrote on Facebook.

To support the couple’s recovery, a GoFundMe page was recently set up and has already raised nearly $25,000, quickly approaching the $30,000 goal.

Since the shark posed an obvious threat to anyone visiting the beaches in the area, local authorities were keen to deal with the predator immediately.

South Padre Island and Cameron County park officials located the shark, harnessed it and returned it to deeper waters so it would not pose a further threat to beachgoers, KFDX-TV reported.

Helicopter footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows officers flying over the shark as it swims through shallow waters immediately after the attack.

According to Captain Dowdy of Texas Parks and Wildlife, the animal was neither injured nor physically harmed during the rescue operation.

This image from the Texas Department of Public Safety shows a shark near the ocean floor in South Padre Island, Texas, on Thursday, July 4, 2024

The shark swims right next to an incoming wave, shortly after biting two people and hitting two more

Dowdy said the “unusual” attack was likely caused by weather changes resulting from the approaching Hurricane Beryl, which the National Hurricane Center expects to hit the Texas coast sometime Monday as a Category 1 hurricane.

Immediately after the attack, Texas Parks and Wildlife released a statement informing beachgoers that authorities would patrol the beach by land, boat and air.

The city also considered closing the beach completely to the public.

According to local radio station KNFM, a 4.2-meter-long great white shark was spotted near South Padre Island in March.

However, since authorities believe the perpetrator in the recent attacks was a bull shark, it is likely that no great white shark was involved.

This comes after two teenagers and a woman were attacked by a shark in Walton Beach, Florida, early last month.

Elisabeth Foley, the first victim of a shark attack in the Florida Panhandle, is pictured on the left

Lulu Gribbin was one of the teenage girls attacked by a shark in Florida last month. The bites were so severe that surgeons had to amputate her “right leg halfway from the knee to the hip,” according to a Facebook post by her mother.

According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, 45-year-old Elisabeth Foley was bitten by the marine creature around 1:15 p.m. in the water near Watersound Way and Coopersmith Lane.

According to Ryan Crawford, fire chief of the South Walton Fire District, she suffered “significant injuries to her midsection and pelvis and required amputation of her left forearm.”

At around 3 p.m., officials responded to reports that another shark attack had occurred on two 15- and 17-year-old girls six kilometers away from the first attack.

The teenagers were later identified as Lulu Gribbin, who lost a hand and leg, and McCray Faust, who suffered injuries to her foot.

All three victims, who were visiting the area from other states, were attacked while swimming near the sandbar.