Davis: Shark attacks still down this year

Davis

Patty Davis is a general assignment correspondent in CNN's Washington, D.C., bureau. She is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, covering Saturday's shark attack that killed 10-year-old David Peltier.

Q: How has this weekend's fatal shark attack affected attendance at Virginia Beach this Labor Day weekend?

DAVIS: There seem to be as many vacationers and beachgoers here as usual, but many are staying out of water, despite the fact that the beaches are open to swimmers. However, many are choosing to sunbathe and those that go in the water are only going in to knee- or waist-high water.

Q: Have any of the officials in Virginia Beach said why they think this rare shark attack occurred?

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DAVIS: Officials here are as stumped as anyone else. They think this type of shark hangs out around sandbars, where the boy, his brothers and father were surfing. One marine expert told me she believes 10-year-old David Peltier was in the wrong place at the wrong time, probably swimming among the shark's dinner of fish.

Q: Do officials know what type of shark attacked the boy?

DAVIS: Marine experts believe the shark that attacked David was a sandbar shark, based on several witness accounts. Witnesses said the shark was between 8 and 9 feet long and bluish in color. They are hoping that photos from an autopsy to be performed on the boy will give them clues that will lead them in the direction of what kind of shark this was. But the shark went back in the ocean and is still alive after the boy's father, Robert Peltier, fought it off and nobody has seen it since.

Q: Have there been any precautions taken by officials to prevent another shark attack?

DAVIS: Police helicopters are up several times a day, searching for signs of sharks. About 20 to 30 emergency medical services divers are out by boat looking for any signs of sharks. Lifeguards are looking for disturbances in the water as well as shark fins. Swimmers are told only to swim at beaches where there are lifeguards. So far, there have been no shark sightings since the one on Saturday.

Q: This year it seems there have been more fatal shark attacks. Is this just media hype or is there an increase this year in deadly attacks?

DAVIS: Over the past decade, there are normally an average of 8 fatalities each year due to shark attacks, based on information collected by the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. So far this year, there have only been two fatal shark attacks -- this one in Virginia Beach and another one in Brazil, earlier this year. So we're actually below average for fatalities. As far as overall unprovoked shark attacks, this year there have been 49, compared to last year's rate of 79.

Q: How is the father of the boy doing?

DAVIS: Everyone from emergency medical services officials to the Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf to Richard Peltier's brother have hailed him as a hero for trying to save his son. But James Peltier said his brother feels like anything but a hero, since he's lost a son.