Four shark bites reported on Long Island as officials deploy surveillance drones

(NEW YORK) — Police responded to two reports of possible shark bites in separate locations around the same time on the Fourth of July off the South Shore of Long Island, New York, a day after two similar incidents were reported, authorities said.

At 1:50 p.m., police responded to a report of an injured beachgoer at Quogue Village Beach in the town of Southampton, according to the Quogue Village Police Department.

In that incident, a 47-year-old man was swimming in chest-deep water when he was bitten on his right knee. Although a shark was not physically observed, the bite was from a larger marine animal, police said. The man suffered severe lacerations and was taken by ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Police have notified all surrounding beaches of the marine life activity and are encouraging patrons to stay out of the water until the situation can be further assessed.

In the second incident, a 49-year-old man was bitten on the hand around 1:55 p.m. while swimming in the ocean off Fire Island, according to the Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau, who responded to the incident. The victim was brought to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore for treatment of a non-life-threatening laceration.

Two more apparent shark bites were reported at beaches on Long Island’s South Shore on Monday, ABC’s New York station WABC-TV reported — one at Robert Moses State Park and another at Kismet Beach.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office is deploying drones across beaches to try and prevent encounters after a rise in shark attacks last year, when there were six shark attacks off beaches on Long Island in the span of three weeks.

Robert Moses State Park had a delayed opening for swimming Tuesday after state parks officials spotted about 50 sand sharks during their morning drone survey, WABC reported.

In Florida last week, a shark bit a fisherman who was washing his hands off the side of a boat in Everglades National Park. In another incident in Cocoa Beach, a 12-year-old girl received 50 stitches after a shark bit her on the leg.