USA, Lulu's victory, attacked by a shark: Alabama votes "shark alert" on cell phones

A new shark warning system, inspired by a teenage shark attack survivor last year, that alerts swimmers when a shark has bitten someone nearby, will be implemented in Alabama. The law, passed in April, was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey late Wednesday.

In the event of shark attacks nearby, the system will send repeated public warnings to cell phones, in a manner similar to what the Romans saw happen - perhaps excessively - on April 25, the day of the farewell of Pope Francis' coffin. Although, in that case, it was later explained that it was a dress rehearsal of the It-Alert system implemented by the Civil Protection. In this specific case, the American variant that inspired the legislators of the southern US state is the Amber Alert, created overseas on the occasion of a minor kidnapping, adopted for about twenty years in the US and Canada, and also in other countries around the world, including France.

The law is named after Lulu Gribbin, a teenager from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was one of three people bitten by a shark in a series of attacks off the Florida Panhandle last year. The girl, now 16, lost her left hand and part of her right leg in the attack. Gribbin herself has been active in recent weeks in pushing for the law, saying she wouldn’t have been in the water if she’d known a woman had been bitten a few miles away about an hour earlier.

"This bill will help prevent future attacks," Gribbin said last month of the legislation. "It's like an Amber Alert when a child goes missing. It will send out an alert when there's been a shark attack."

In the past few hours, the young woman was with Ivey as she signed the bill, called the Lulu Gribbin Shark Alert System Act, and took part in a private ceremony in the governor's office.

“Alabama prides itself on having the safest and most beautiful beaches in the world,” Ivey said yesterday. “The added tool of a shark alert system will help officials in Baldwin and Mobile counties ensure the safety of our beachgoers so they can enjoy the refreshing waters of our Gulf of America.”

Supporters say the law will be an additional safety measure for beachgoers. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will set the rules for the new warning system, according to the law.

An earlier version of the law also called for an "imminent danger" alert when sharks are spotted near shore. However, because sharks are commonly found in waters off Alabama and Florida, coastal communities feared that this would lead to too many alerts, causing panic and hurting tourism.

The warnings will be issued only along the Alabama coast. Sponsors of the bill hope other states will adopt similar systems or federal legislation will expand their use.

Gribbin ( pictured above ) described the attack after speaking to a legislative committee last month. She and her friend were diving for sand dollars and riding the Gulf waves when her friend yelled, “Shark!”

"My hand got bitten first. I remember just pulling it out of the water, and I was dizzy because my hand was gone," she said. "I couldn't feel it because of the shock. Then the shark latched onto my leg."

More than 260,000 fans followed her recovery on social media, including the fitting of prosthetic legs and physical therapy, and shared her first post-recovery milestones, such as attending a school dance and her first return to the beach.

Experts say attacks are rare despite the presence of sharks in places like the Gulf. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program, there were 47 unprovoked shark bites worldwide in 2024, including four fatalities.