Kai McKenzie Crowd Funding
Surfing at Port Macquarie's North Shore on Tuesday morning, 23-year old Kai McKenzie was attacked by a reported three-metre white shark.
McKenzie saw the shark approach but couldn't fend it off. In the ensuing attack he lost a leg, yet made it to shore where a quick-thinking passerby created a makeshift tourniquet and stemmed the blood loss.
McKenzie was taken to Port Macquarie base hospital and later transported to John Hunter hospital in Newcastle on Tuesday afternoon. McKenzie's leg later washed ashore and was put on ice.
Kai McKenzie's board after the attack (NSW Police)
The incident comes just over six months after McKenzie returned to surfing after fracturing his neck.
Luke Short, who makes boards for McKenzie, told the ABC:
"We were all kind of hoping we heard it wrong," Short said. "In this situation we're always trying to pick the positives.
"He's a wise young fella. He's been through a lot of stuff, but this is unbelievable really."
Late yesterday, friends established a GoFundMe page to cover medical treatment for McKenzie.
The incident came after an attack on 44-year-old surfer Toby Begg by a great white shark on Lighthouse Beach, south of Port Macquarie, last year. Begg was saved by an off-duty emergency department doctor.
Comments
Just awful for the young fella. I wonder if they'll be able to reattach the leg ? Guessing probably not but i hope so for his sake.
Just heard on the car radio that they are going to try to reattach it.
Hope all goes well for the lad.
Very sorry to hear. Hope he has good support from family and friends.
It would be good if everyone donated something ,anything because this young guy has a long road of recovery in front of him and im sure if any of us were in his position you would hope for the same help.
Hope he is doing ok. I was just looking at all the whales again this year and wondering what may be following them. Is there any data on more shark attacks during the whale migration?
I think someone debunked the more whales = more shark attacks theory. And the dude doing the research on “do beached whale carcasses attract sharks” found no significant relationship. The most reasonable explanation is increased abundance of juvenile sharks due to 30+ years of protection and these “teenage” 2.5-3.5m sharks switching from eating fish to hunting larger prey items (turtles, seals, dolphins etc) which require clear water and sunlight. This was observed and reported by shark scientists along Stockton to port Stephens in the mid noughties and matched the MO of other attacks along NSW beaches
That’s a very speculative statement. Sorry, simply cannot agree with you there mate.
Remove the human element and the anthropomorphic view and strip it right back to biology. Nothing in your statement relates to normal biological behaviour.
In your case you’re referring to human behaviours. Not shark behaviours. AW
Not even going to validate this with a response
Donated. Wishing Kai a swift recovery
Agree with the 30+ years of protection - or unchallenged (NO) management regarding GWS.
Time to review, revise, challenge and amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, specifically regarding GWS.
Speedy recovery young bloke.
Paul. So. You want to go backwards?
Interesting take. Your view, not mine or many others it appears.
Let’s remind ourselves about where we sit in the evolutionary chain of events.
We are the ones who fuck up, cartilaginous fish were doing very well without us mere humans. We are just shit stirrers.
Flabbergasted by such archaic views on biological organisms.AW
Not sure who has the archaic views here AW. I'm absolutely with Paul.
We terminate dogs who attack humans, but can't take out a shark that has done so. That, in my view, is ridiculous.
Contrary to your assertion, I've never fkd up a cartilaginous fish in my life, and I reckon most wouldn't have. Maybe you're trying to create collective guilt - but I'm not into it. Humans have a responsibility - yes. We are also the top of the food chain.
Why not be sensible about preservation of and wildlife, AND the preservation of human life.
The pendulum has swung too far here and the lives of too many people are being forever impacted or lost by shark attacks up and down the coast.
Nailed it. Well said @DB
IM with DB
If that’s the case as Courtenay sang:
Maybe we should cull cars instead of sharks.
Edit - deleted
Mea culpa. Apology to the spirit of this thread for my comment not appropriate here. Didn’t mean to offend and have donated
Dbsurfs & others.
GWS are expert ambush predators as we all know.
It’s extremely sad what happened to Kai.
What is the benefit of culling them, just to appease our needs, give me a break.
Who preys on GWS, please don’t say Orcas, they do on occasions, but it’s not the norm.
GWS , apex predator, rarely bothered by other oceanic organisms.
We are not the top of the food chain , we may think so, just because we have devices to kill them.
Were they culled 100 years ago, 1000 years ago. 10,000 years ago, no.
They historically would’ve killed, seals, sea lions etc.
We are the interfering agent , we’ve altered their environment, their associative behaviours, overfished, polluted the oceans, we treat it like a rubbish dump, just look at the human induced waste found in the stomachs of many sharks, shop away at all species of fish like its a supermarket .
We’ve depleted bony and cartilaginous fish stocks globally.
Please give me one scientific reason why we should cull them.
And, true , this was a page dedicated to Kai, you can thank AndrewP for starting this diatribe with such a ridiculous statement. Fair dinkum.
For once ,can we ( humans) stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about all animals that have to bear our acquaintance.
How much more of this planet can we fuck up ? AW
Hey AW and others - good to open discussion regarding the passionate conversation regarding GWS and not forgetting the empathy, compassion and considerations given to the poor bloke who has suffered an extremely traumatic and somewhat life changing experience, I wish him the best and no ongoing health issues.
I do not wish to antagonize or take this discussion any further regarding points raised. However, as for a scientific reason why we should cull, specifically GWS, well that is totally ridiculous - the fact(s) speak for themselves.
Human life 1st.
As for fucking the planet - well speak for yourself regarding individuals' actions - no guilt or negative footprint on my behalf.
AndrewP - good on him / her - they / them - for voicing an opinion.
The only black t shirts I wear - don't have $HEEP SHEPARD insignia either.
Chur bro
Meh, The preservation of human life? You are kidding.
Look what we’ve done to the planet.
Oz as an example, highest rate of extinction globally in the last 50 years.
We are no great exemplar for the preservation of life my friend.
The view of many about animals astounds me. AW
You're happy to let a shark that has killed or maimed a human continue to exist - I have a different opinion. You've obviously never sat with a family of a deceased. Never worked with a survivor. You've got naïve and extreme views of the world I'm not about to influence - so stick with it mate. But if you get a chance, spend some time around trauma and you might learn something.
Wow, childish at best.
Nothing extreme at all, totally rational thinking, unlike your reactionary thinking.
How about taking in and understanding the whole big picture . Doesn’t seem like you are capable of that. Wild West Cowboy syndrome.
Based on your premise you’d be sitting with every grieving family who have just lost a loved one in a car accident, you’ll be busy.
What are you going to do, kill every shark you can until you think you’ve found the guilty one.
Why don’t you just remove them all from the oceans and make yourself feel safe and easy. AW
Huh?
I think you guys need to pull your fucking heads in. I am a loved one of his and this isn’t for arguing what you think is right, this is to help support him with funds. And also kai knows the ocean is the sharks fucking home, he’s not the kinda guy who thinks you gotta kill sharks for just fucking living and doing what they do. If you don’t wanna go in the ocean cause of sharks, don’t go in the ocean, full stop .
Pull your bloody heads in and have some respect.
Well said ....all the best to Kai.
Well Said - sharks are in the water we all know that - get well Kai good luck mate.
All this crap talk about us humans being apex predators, what uneducated bullshit.
Scenario. Place yourself on an African plain, stand threadbare in your birthday suit, no weapons in your hand, you have a tiger or a lion about to attack you.
I think I know who the apex predator is.
Just because we can manufacture weapons doesn’t not make us Apex Predators.
I’ve seriously got to review the intelligence of many subscribers, I thought we were better, obviously I’m wrong. Good to chat. AW.
Cool story. Yep smart people stand on an African plain nude. Nailed it.
Modern humans are absolutely the apex predator in the modern age. We can annihilate any animal or species we want with a click of our fingers.
Anthropologically we aren't, but we can culturally evolve as well as evolutionarily which is why we are superior to any other creature. Sharks exist because we let them and because it's an ecologically good idea.
Actually our intelligence, ability to communicate and manufacture tools does make us the apex predator!
Thoughts to Kai and family.
We may put down dogs, but they essentially are man made. They were adapted by humans. ie not naturally bred, therefore nothing to do with any arguments about sharks. Land vs sea. But humans must dominate everything I guess.
Edit
Heresay, but a mate was talking to PhD in sharks at Fisheries West Oz at a bbq not that long ago and asked for his unofficial take on the increased shark encounters and he said increased numbers of whales is the likely largest factor. The predator/prey relative population size data follow very closely with each other with some lag effect.
Pretty sure that is not the major reason. Teenage sharks aren’t gunna expend energy to fight the mother off to take down tonnes of animal like humpback calves. Will they eat a dead one floating past? Sure will but nowhere near reliable enough to count on. Research has shown they are in the surf zone on clear water with the sun overhead chasing rays, seals and turtles cos they need more energy from prey than from the baitfish they relied on as juveniles. Way more reliable than counting on a stray whale carcass.
Is a 3m GWS still considered juvenile?
3m and under.
There is a video of the attack and i can tell you that it aint no juvenile.
Where ?
you'll see it soon enough, it's doing the rounds. Its BIG.
How bout you stop sharing it round, as a loved one of his, we do not need this kinda crap happening. Pull your head in and have some respect.
didn't mean any disrespect. I have not shared anywhere but I have seen it. You'll notice above Udo asked me where and i did not tell him where to find it. I've donated and wish Kai nothing but the best in his recovery.
But is it wrong to assume that there needs to be more adult sharks for more juvenile sharks to be born? ... Best wishes to Kye,
I might get This wrong but I wanna say most the fatal attacks from bigger whites in WA (particularly mid west zone where I live) are in June July kinda time or occasionally December jan.
My thoughts are that they follow the whales up, then once the whales get past gero I guess it starts to get a bit warm for the whites so they just hang around between Margs and gero biting surfers and boat motors till the whales come back in September, then ya don’t here much till a month or so after the whales have left for Antartica where it’s too cold.
Also there has to have been around 10 whales wash up dead around the Perth metro and south west, often in spots you’d never see, say between box and kilkarnup or the bay just north of a marina a kilometre from derrs where I just had a bunta doom sub take a full swing at me last weekend while unknowingly surfing a kilometre from a dead whale. Cunt came from the same direction too.
It would be so hard to prove a correlation apart from a lot review and data analysis, which goes above my pay grade but it’s hard to imagine such an abundant food source of whales not attracting every shark with half a brain to the west coast only to wonder what the duck to do next cause it’s not like we have a heap of seals or blue fin running around.
Also saw on those statistics that attacks by sharks over 4 meters generally no body comes back….
Horrible.
+1 @simba.
Donated.
All the best Kai.
Donated. As we all should, where possible.
We are kin. AW
Donated, all the best Kai.
Heavy,
all the best to Kai and family, donation coming your way.
anyone follow bite metrix on instagram ? he pretty much predicted that there was a high chance of a great white encounter on that day in that spot, he follows water temperatures and other stuff and is pretty acurate even with shark species, that day was a low risk of bull shark encounter but high risk of great white
Yeah Wavie valuable tool. His update 19th July was spot on. More sightings here for MNC. But it should be clear in a few weeks.
Thanks for sharing. My second son was just born and I unknowingly went surfing in one of those hot spots both Monday and Tuesday morning. For how shitty the waves were it absolutely isn't worth it.
I found the sharksmart app useless but this one seems a lot more useful. Thanks again.
there doing bloody great work and have less then 500 followers on instagram, i feel like everyone especially on the northcoast should be following them
FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS folks! Try to remember what this forum is for. donated
The local operator of drum lines in Port Mac is a life long surfer and is currently not surfing due to the "plague" numbers of sharks in the region. He advises everyone not to surf at the moment.
Twice in the last week surfers were chased out of the water at the same spot.
I encourage everyone to donate to Kai, they are a great local family who have made long term contributions to the local community.
Heal up mate.
Donated - all the best with the recovery
Wow, what a legend. Sharing his knowledge like that....and hats off to the young fella, wishing him well.
I must admit, some days it feels super eerie out in the water, and even smells ripe for carnage.
9 times out of 10 I'm the only one in the water in these parts, which is ridiculous given the quality (now reassessing what the real value of a solo surf is) ....add a sly little toke on some sativa pre-surf can make it an out-of-body experience under those conditions :-)
Donated. Hope recovery go's as well as possible
Poor guy. Hope he gets all the support he needs.
Done, all the best
Done - all the best Kai.
I thought this was a crowd funding story. Dude has lost his leg and people are bickering about culling.
If there was culling then he wouldn't have lost his leg
Agree 100% pp, I'm sure ppl mean well with calls for culling/not culling but this is not the forum for that at the moment. Donate to help Kai.
Heartbreaking for poor Kai.
I've recently been watching drone footage by The Malibu Artist of GW sharks swimming near surfers, swimmers, SUP's, dolphins, seals etc in California. Most are juveniles or larger and show no aggression or interest to attack. The California habitat seems to be a nursery similar to NSW's.
Why do Australian GW's attack or act aggressive when their California counterparts don't?
^ interesting question @Surfnazi
....malibu artist got some amazing footage, especially when a gw approaches kids in the shallows etc
It's hard to ascertain if all shark behaviours can be categorized collectively, their environmental factors such as food abundance must count in relation to hunting patterns. Is it individual rogue whites with more aggressive tendencies? Do some have bold personalities and more curiosity / are some shy or less prone to human interactions but better at stealth attacks?
The rivermouth is a biggy for me regarding the location of this latest tragic occurrence.. I spent decades surfing up round stockton and then near yagan & celito..... spent holidays staying with mates at port macquarie, and also lennox and ballina/byron area.
- must've had hundreds of especially early morning solo sessions with abundant wildlife in the water. Nowadays there is no way I'd surf alone in any of these parts. First it was round stockton and just north there was a sudden higher concentration of gw sharks..... the dave sparkes incident just south of seal rocks was an eye opener, and then the whole series of attacks round ballina etc really changed my perspective of solo surfs there. It's done the same now with port macquarie area.
Sending best wishes to kai and family, hoping for a speedy recovery.
This vid below is an Aussie (I think up near forster/tuncurry).
https://m.
&pp=ygUZcG9ydCBtYWNxdWFyaWUgZHJvbiBzaGFyaw%3D%3DWow... just wow
How many times we been sitting out the back none the wiser!!
Wtf? Why wouldnt the drone operator buzz that guy? Was he actually waiting to film an " Encounter " or what
Jelly,
Crazy interactions up here MNC the past weeks.
What was the Dave Sparks incident?
Thanks
https://sharkattacksurvivors.com/shark_attack/viewtopic.php?t=902
Best wishes to Kai.
I have always read these discussions in the wake of an attack, & never commented before, but wanted to put this to the group: There always seems to be a lot of people on here relating that they have "surfed when there is a lot of wildlife in the water" or "surfed through that eerie feeling". It seems to me that there is a different mentality surrounding this in NSW/QLD, than here in SA, because either of those occurrences would mean it is time to head in here, as no wave is worth your life. Surely you guys tend to check the conditions, relating to the possibility of sharks, before getting in the water? Eg. look for the obvious signs? The aforementioned wildlife: Fish, birds, seals etc. Water: tides & run off after rain etc. & act accordingly (especially if the conditions suddenly change) or is it more of a "she'll be right" blissful ignorance kind of approach? In saying this I am not being facetious, I am genuinely interested. I don't know if it is because we have less sharks here (but bigger ones) so the frequency of encounters is higher in your neck of the woods, & so the possibility is also increased, but this somewhat blasé attitude seems like it could be a contributing factor? Not the only factor & not in every case, of course, & I'm not saying that this is the case with Kai's incident (as with most attacks the reporting tells us nothing of substance about the actual attack so there is no useful information to help prevent further occurrences) It just seems to me like this mentality is overlooked when people are talking about culling or other management strategies because, as we all know, there are a number of factors that need to occur to put us in the wrong place at the wrong time so the responsibility can't lie solely with the shark(s). I have surfed in SA for 30+ years & there is always a risk assessment conducted before I get in the water (I doubt that I am alone in this) & I assumed that this was the norm everywhere. Just wondering what is the consensus on the east coast? Thanks
im defintely guilty of going out in those eerie conditions quite alot even on the north coast but something im defintely going to think twice about now
About 10 years ago (before all the attacks) I was putting on my leggie at north wall Ballina on an overcast winter day and a guy was coming in saying he'd just seen a big shark cruise past him and I should reconsider going in. There was still guys out in the water so I sort of chuckled at him and went for a surf.
If that had happened today there's no way I would have went out. Same with other sharky looking days where I would have paddled out in the past but now I'm more cautious.
Hi DC There was nothing sharkie about this day. Bright sunshine, no runoff, clear as you get. I was surfing the day before and didn't see a fish or a dolphin.
Totally agree mate, All that stuff that people rattle off "early mornings, late arvo, river mouths, after rain" doesn't ring true for the cluster of attacks on the far north coast. The vast majority of attacks have been on bright sunny days in clear water, middle of the day, some near river mouths, many were as far from river mouth as you can get in the northern rivers. If a big White is swimming up the coast and wants to bite you it will. It doesnt wait for a rainy day near a river mouth on an outgoing tide.
To be honest, I'm not sure how many useful indicators there are- although I haven't fully checked out this BiteMetrix stuff and his claims to have some viable indicators of risk.
Small surf and sunny days seem to be the most dangerous, with late winter and spring the worst times.
Although attacks have occurred in February around here.
It's funny though, on the day the attack occurred I was surfing a local break and did, for the first time in a long time, get a funny weird feeling and put my head on a swivel.
But there were no obvious signs.
We have so much biomass in the water here, huge bait balls are common and don't seem to be correlated with attacks or encounters.
Dry years seem to be worse than wet years- so white sharks appear to not like water that is too turbid or fresh.
No way on God's green earth I'm surfing back banks solo where I have to paddle over deep water and sit off the bank in deep water. As a general rule of thumb, I try and keep shallow water between me and the shore/rocks to reduce angles of ambush.
A few spots that seem sharkier to me, because of greater ease of ambush by a white shark, I no longer surf.
I think bite metrix is a pretty handy tool, maybe if victim had seen bite metrix report the day before saying that port mac was at high risk for great white encounters he might of thought twice he even predicted the species saying that it was low risk for bull sharks . its defintely put me off a bit. i surf ballina a bit and know how sharky it is but still would surf mid week when its quiet but if i saw his report about the resident tiger shark hanging around sharpes 2 days in a row im most likely not going out the next day
Stay tuned for a Q&A with Ronnie from BiteMetrix.
All interesting info there, thanks FR. That pretty much confirms what I was assuming to be the case, that the greater amount of biomass, the lack of obvious signs plus, I'm guessing, the abundance of surf contributes to not an irresponsible approach but a, generally, less hyper vigilant one than down here. I, myself, am guilty of letting the guard down, somewhat, a few days into (on the rare occasion that we get one) a decent run of swell around here so I imagine that plays into it up that way too. The irony is that it is an opportunistic endeavour, this pastime of ours, as is the predator that poses the greatest risk while persuing it.
I, too, have spots that I am reluctant to surf, due to their apparent "sharkiness" but that is most down here, of any consequence, so employing, as you referred to, a surf smarter attitude seems to be the best defence. Be aware of those prime ambush setups. Most people that have fished know where bait will congregate so it is pretty easy to follow the food chain back up, to the top, & estimate where not to be. Surfing the safest parts of the tide, or the best part of the tide (surfwise) for a shorter amount of time to reduce the chances I think is a good strategy. A "get your fill & get out" mentality.
It seems that if we all are a bit shark smarter then these encounters could be reduced, not completely, but near zero. That & more research into all of the factors at play surrounding each attack, & making that information known, not just in a database but in the reporting of these events. This issue is divisive, & rightly so when risk of injury or death to oneself, or loved ones, is involved & so we will have the extremes of the pro-cull & no-cull mobs (as demonstrated above) but it seems to me that that is putting the horse before the cart if we're all not taking responsibility for our part in this.
I am going to look into BiteMetrix too, anything to help make an informed decision has to be a plus.
Thanks again for your response
DC
No probs.
This is probably not the thread for it.
This is about helping out Kai and showing his friends and family and loved ones he has the full support of the surfing community.
He's not alone and he won't be forgotten.
Yep, no worries, enough said.
All the best to Kai for his recovery.
sorry of bringing up shark culling on this arcticle, but to be fair the more comments on this article the more eyes it will probably get, I am pretty sure target species of sharks are euthanised when caught on a drumline or nets up in qld, am i wrong? is that the same for NSW too ?
+1 for shark control
Not in NSW. Released. And the ones that have hung around, easily identified and continuing to menace fisheries boats attending the scene after killing or maiming someone, are also untouched.
NSW has Smart drumlines and all sharks released alive, to my knowledge with a very high rate of survival.
This is now the second, near fatal, attack where Smart Drumlines were deployed.
Firstly just a horrible thing to go threw and i hope he recovers quickly .. must be a hard hit mentally ... You have got to wonder FR about the whole benifit if any from the shark smart operation not much info on GW is gained ..And it certainly doesnt deminish the risk of shark attack ...
@DC prior to this attack the previous two in Port Macquarie and the one at Tuncurry were mid morning, blue water and surf less than 2ft i.e would appear to be low risk shark conditions based on generally accepted measures.
However, obviously need to reassess those measures. I know a couple guys that now basically stop surfing during peak whale season from May to August as they have judged that is also peak period for Great Whites on the North Coast.
I've all but stopped surfing Tunners after Marks fatality, and pretty much anywhere else in town too now. Since that attack here there's been dozens and dozens of interactions, most which don't make MSM. I was fishing for tailor two weeks ago in middle of the beach (the same beach Col Rowland escaped death a few years back) and watched a GWS get full airborne behind the breakers. It then headed south through the waves toward a popular part of the beach where the crew always surf. Half hour later a bloke was ambushed from below and had his board smashed up and somehow was unscathed, less than 500m from where I was fishing. Again about 11;30am, 1-2ft and crystal clear.
But how's this part, the local that witnessed the Col Rowland attack was the same witness to what happened to this guy two weeks ago as well, on the same beach. Rattled.
Wishing Kai all the mental and physical healing possible.
Thats also peak surf season.
Done. All the best Kai…
And stay safe Swellnetafarians.
Use your judgement. Trust your instincts.
Learn First Aid.
Faaarrrk,
This one's hard to read,
Thoughts to Kai
Shit is soo heavy.
Thinking of Him and the young fella Khai from S.A last year
Just brutal.
All the best to Kai.
so he paddled in without a leg and someone handed it for sugergy ?
fuck thats insane
It washed in shortly after he paddled in
No word on whether they tried to reattach is there? Based on an article in the Guardian today on this topic, it seems unlikely.
Y'all shoulr read Sir Victor Coppleson's best seller of the time "Shark Attack" the man is my hero. Saved many lives he did, hence the Sir.
Glad you made it home Kai..
Surfed an outside bank a few months ago, perfect day but really small surf. Paddled for a wave, missed it, turned out the back saw a big shark side on. It was a bit spooky prior, but maybe just because empty? Anyway bolted in via a huge bloody gutter, never been so scared. I told a guy as I walked up the stairs “hey just saw a shark”, he wasn’t rude but clear he thought I was a kook or full of shit. A few days later waves pumping that spot actually packed. No one any the wiser. Dont know what to take from that, we all love surfing and most of us will write off the danger
Just being alive and doing normal stuff like driving down a highway is probably a bigger risk as a percentage.
Donated. All the best with your recovery Kai, stay strong.
Fucking stop it…. If that pic is real and I spot what I think I do…. I just have found my new hero. LEGEND
But ironically that word can have a seperate connotation
I'm sitting here welling up, not because I feel sorry for him (which I completely do), but because of having such an incredibly positive response and outlook to what has been a life changing event for him. I'd love just an ounce of your attitude and optimism mate. Totally inspiring.