GALVESTON, Texas - A young girl is recovering in Texas after she was bitten by a shark in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday evening.

KIAH-TV reported Galveston EMS responded to the scene near Pirates Beach on the west side of Galveston Island to find a 5-year-old girl with significant soft tissue damage to her lower leg. She was rushed to the hospital where she was listed in stable condition at the time of this writing.

The girl was swimming between sandbars with her father and older brother when the attack happened at around 5:30 p.m.

“Our belief is that the shark bit the little girl’s leg thinking it was a fish and then let go,” said Chief Peter Davis with the Galveston Island Beach Patrol .

A tourniquet was fashioned out of a dog leash by beachgoers in an attempt to help the little girl.

Galveston EMS said the makeshift tourniquet “made an impact on this little girl’s condition.”