Australian pokes shark in eye during attack

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian swimmer survived a great white shark attack by poking the creature in the eyes as it dragged him through the water after badly savaging his left leg.

Jason Cull was swimming off a beach on Australia's southwest coast on Sunday when the four meter (12 feet) shark attacked.

"Initially I thought it was a dolphin," Cull told The Australian newspaper on Monday. "I just remember being dragged along backwards. I was trying to feel its gills but I found its eye and I stuck my finger in and that's when it let go."

Around 42 percent of attacks involve surfers or windsurfers, according to the U.S.-based International Shark Attack File. Australia had 12 shark attacks in 2007, none of them fatal, among 71 shark attacks worldwide that year.