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<\/p>\nA fisherman was lucky to survive a terrifying shark attack in which the beast \u201cgrabbed his arm like a dog bites a bone\u201d.<\/p>\n
Brett Highlands was spear-fishing in remote waters with his pals in Western Australia\u2019s Kimberley region \u2013 but he quickly became the bait when the deadly fish came up behind him.<\/p>\n
At first, he thought he was going to die at the jaws of the killer, reports 7News. <\/p>\n
But the brave angler stabbed his spear into the belly of the shark and it shot off.<\/p>\n
Brett said the first bite was strangely gentle and added: \u201cIt bit – then it bit again – almost like a dog trying to get a good grip of a bone.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI didn\u2019t have a lot of time to think but I do remember thinking \u2018oh my god here we go, this is it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the creature fled, Brett swam 80 metres back to his boat.<\/p>\n
His mates made a make-shift bandage from a diving belt to stop the bleeding and rushed him back to shore.<\/p>\n
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There, emergency services flew him to Perth for surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI rammed the spear into what I could see was the belly of the shark and it just released straight away and shot off,\u201d Brett said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I) just backstroked and kept looking under the water to see if it was coming at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Miraculously, surgeons at Royal Perth Hospital re-attached every tendon.<\/p>\n
But the danger is not gone and doctors say the main risk is now infection.<\/p>\n
Brett joked: \u201cI\u2019ll say the story will get bigger – that shark will be six metres by the time I\u2019m a grandpa.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSometimes they say things happen for a reason and I\u2019d broken my spear gun only ten minutes before that so I should\u2019ve just finished my dive and got out of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
His girlfriend Hannah stayed with him throughout the whole petrifying saga.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cEven though they\u2019ve got great hands working on him you don\u2019t know what the outcome is going to be, or the extent of the damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the best outcome out of a terrible situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The courageous couple say they will be braving the ocean again in the future \u2013 but this time with a shark shield.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know the dangers when we get in the water, it\u2019s their territory. But we choose to do it,\u201d Brett said.<\/p>\n
Experts have taken samples of Brett\u2019s wetsuit to work out whether it was a tiger shark.<\/p>\n
There were seven attacks in Western Austrailia in 2020 and there have already been eight so far this year.<\/p>\n