Photos by Getty, Rodrigo Friscione (L) and Mark Kostich (R)
A man who lost his leg to a great white shark while surfing off the coast of South Australia has won a legal exemption to keep the tooth that the apex predator left wedged in his surfboard.Chris Blowes, now 32, was attacked from behind by the 18-foot shark at Fishery Bay, near Port Lincoln, on Anzac Day in 2015—losing his leg before coming ashore and being medically evacuated to a hospital in Adelaide.He lost consciousness several times during the evacuation, his heart stopped, and he was in a coma for 10 days following the incident. It was during this time that police found Blowes’ board, washed up on a nearby beach, with one of the shark’s bottom teeth lodged in the foam.Great white sharks are a protected species in South Australia, meaning that under the state’s Fisheries Management Act it is illegal to possess, sell or purchase any part of the animal. Those found in violation can attract fines of $100,000 fine or two years' imprisonment. And so the police handed the tooth in to the relevant authorities.“They noticed the tooth and did the right thing and handed it into Fisheries,” Blowes told the ABC. “Once it was in their hands I could no longer have it.”What followed was a six-year struggle for Blowes to claim and keep his assailant’s tooth—a struggle that reached its conclusion this week when, after drawing up a set of terms and conditions, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, SA (PIRSA) granted him an exemption of the Fisheries Management Act. It is the first time such an exemption has ever been granted.“I tried to get [the tooth] back a few times—it's good to have it back in my hands,” said Blowes. “It seems stupid that I wasn't able to have it in the first place, but that's what the law says.”Blowes did not elaborate as to why he went to such far lengths to keep the tooth, but suggested it was the least he could get after the incident.“It's not a fair trade,” he said. “A leg for a tooth.”Follow Gavin on Twitter
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