Chris Blowes lost his leg and was in a coma for over a week after a shark attacked him in Australia back in 2015.
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One of the sharks teeth was sticking out of his surfboard, but the state bans individuals from keeping parts of protected animals. Except Blowes, who has now been granted an exemption, and will be keeping the tooth as a souvenir.
Blowes was surfing at Fishery Bay in April of 2015 when an 18 foot long great white hit him from behind. "It shook me about and played with me for a bit, and it ended up pulling my leg off," he told BBC News.
Two friends were able to get him back onshore, and paramedics got him strapped in the ambulance before heading to the hospital. "My heart had completely stopped and they had to administer CPR until I showed any signs of life," he said.
It turns out that when authorities recovered his board, they found a tooth from the shark embedded in the surfboard. Police gave it to the proper authorities and Blowes said, "from that day I wasn't allowed to see the tooth."
After Blowes made numerous requests to keep the shark tooth, a local political figure listened to his case and made an exemption.
"Chris has obviously been through a hugely traumatic experience and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help," David Basham, South Australia's Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development said.
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