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Shark Attack Victim Shows Off Hectic Bite Marks After Narrow Escape

Thumbs up and all.
The NSW teen was knocked off his board and bitten on Monday morning.
LightRocket via Getty Images
The NSW teen was knocked off his board and bitten on Monday morning.

A narrow escape from a shark hasn't left NSW teen Cooper Allen down.

The surfer has given Channel 7 cameras a thumbs up from his hospital bed and revealed the brutal bite mark on his right thigh just a day after he was bitten by a shark near Byron Bay.

On Monday the teen was surfing with his friend -- on the first day of the school holidays -- when he was knocked off his surfboard and bitten at Lighthouse Beach in Ballina.

Paramedics arrived at the beach just after 9am after his friend helped him to shore. Allen was taken to Lismore Base Hospital where he was stitched up without having to undergo surgery.

Here's the brutal evidence:

The shark species responsible for the bite remains unknown, however a 3.5-metre great white shark was spotted at the beach a couple of hours after the close call.

The attack is the second to occur at the beach since the NSW Government introduced Department of Primary Industries 'Shark Smart' technologies which include drones and aerial surveys.

A department spokesman told The Huffington Post Australia on Monday the area would now be set with non-lethal drum lines.

"DPI shark experts will deploy SMART drumlines in the area, now available as part of the NSW Government's $16m Shark Management Strategy," the spokesman said.

"Aerial surveillance is conducted every weekend and every day of every school holidays, weather permitting, from Point Danger to South Ballina, Lighthouse Beach included."

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