“The New York City Health Department’s data records about 1,500–1,600 human bites annually in NYC alone.”
In one of the better studies released in recent times, and riffing on the ol you’re-more-likely-to-get-hit-by-lightning-than-a-shark is one that has compared the likelihood of New Yorkers being bitten by shark or human.
If you hadn’t guessed, it’s a culture wars play ‘cause New York in 2025, with its migrant hotels and drug zombies, ain’t the New York of the early two thousands. Remember back when Brooklyn was turning on, all the bad crooks were in the pen ‘cause of the previous mayor’s zero-tolerance policies and its aggressive pursuit of low-level crimes and his wild increase in cops of the street, major felonies down sixty-two percent etc?
Even your ol pal DR could stroll the avenues in the heat of a summer night in pretty little board shorts and singlet, Rolex on wrist (relax, stainless steel and non-valuable vintage), then in-vogue ear-to-ear sunglasses on 24/7, and not give two damns about getting mugged.
It wasn’t the seventies or the eighties. No Mean Streets here.
Now, according to a new study, well, a clever meme, although it has been vetted, it is now more likely for a New Yorker to be bitten by a human than a shark.
The International Shark Attack File, managed by the Florida Museum, reported 69 unprovoked shark bites globally in 2023, with only 4 occurring in New York waters—primarily off Long Island. With New York’s population at 19.6 million, this translates to a local probability of approximately 1 in 4.9 million per year.
These incidents, often linked to warming waters and increased seal populations, have drawn attention from groups like the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which tracks shark activity near beaches such as Montauk. Historically, the 1916 Jersey Shore attacks—five fatalities near New York—remain an outlier, with no comparable surge since.
Contrast this with human bites. The New York City Health Department’s data, spanning decades and updated through 2024, records about 1,500–1,600 human bites annually in NYC alone, where the population is 8.8 million. This yields a 1 in 5,500 annual risk citywide, rising to 1 in 12,300 statewide.
The disparity is stark: a New Yorker is nearly 900 times more likely to suffer a human bite than a shark’s jaws.
Have you bitten or been bitten?
I, former, no the latter.
Thoroughly enjoyable although in the midst of parlour games.
