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Shark attack in Florida leaves 11-year-old victim with tooth souvenir

Riley Breihan, 11, got to keep a shark's tooth after surviving a shark attack in Florida last weekend.

By VERONICA LINARES, UPI.com
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An 11-year-old girl who survived a shark attack in Volusia County in Fla. will always have a souvenir from her encounter with the fish.

Riley Breihan was boogie boarding in knee-deep water at WinterHaven Park in Ponce Inlet Sunday when she felt something biting her leg.

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"At first I wasn't thinking about pain, I was thinking I got bit by a shark and I have to go to the emergency room," she told Florida's WKMG Local 6. "Then I felt the sting and it hurt real bad."

Riley was bit two times, once in the leg and once in the ankle. Two strangers who witnessed the incident quickly wrapped her leg in a towel and rushed her to the hospital, where she was stitched up expected to make a full recovery.

As doctors were inspecting her wounds, they found a baby shark tooth in one of the bites.

Riley said that though she'll be keeping the tooth as a souvenir she doesn't plan on getting back in the water any time soon.

"I don't think I would go back in the water," she said. "I'm going to wait."

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