Source : Perth Now news
A woman who has narrowly avoided death after being stung by a 16cm stingray barb says she feels like she has “won the lottery” as she “could have been a Steve Irwin”.
Pam Bennett, a 68-year-old volunteer marine researcher, was snorkelling about 50m off shore at Treasure Cove on South Australia’s southern Yorke Peninsula when she noticed a stingray underneath her.
The Minlaton woman told the ABC that although she “quickly swam out of the way”, she soon felt a 16cm barb go into her arm.
“I actually didn’t see that stingray — he had come from behind, I think. He had actually attacked,” she said.
“That’s not their normal behaviour.”
Ms Bennett was conducting a survey of marine life with three other researchers when the terrifying incident occurred.
Her colleagues helped her float to shore while blood spurted out from the wound.
She was taken to Yorketown Hospital for treatment and an X-ray, and was then flown to Adelaide for surgery to remove the barb.
“I was absolutely astounded by the X-ray. It showed a dagger going in at my elbow and coming out almost under my arm,” she told the ABC.
“I could have been a Steve Irwin.”
Ms Bennett said that the X-ray showed the barb had entered her elbow and was adjacent to her brachial artery, but fortunately did not penetrate the major blood vessel.
“I was absolutely astounded by the X-ray. It showed a dagger going in at my elbow and coming out almost under my arm,” she said.
“In hindsight, I feel like I’ve won the lottery because I’m amazed it was me and not a young child.”
Ms Bennett said the pain of the sting was “agony”, and “felt like a dog bite”, but that she was discharged from hospital on Saturday with only bruising and a sore arm.
She expressed her gratitude towards the hospital staff, who were “amazing” and “brilliant”.
Ms Bennett told the ABC that she still loves the “beautiful creatures”, and intends to keep the barb as a trophy.
Stingrays are not usually aggressive, according to the South Australian Department for Environment and Water.
“The oddly adorable stingray is misunderstood by many. Fear has been instilled in people since the tragic death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin in 2006, but it is actually rare to die from a ray injury,” a post on their good living website said.
The unusual behaviour comes as today, a fourth great white shark washed up on South Australian shores in the span of a few weeks.
Beachgoers saw the shark in distress in the shallows of Henley Beach in Adelaide and tried to keep the animal alive by jumping into the water.
