Maybe you’ve seen a beached marine animal and felt a sense of sadness, thinking there is really not much you can do to make a difference. Most of us might wonder who to call; we might alert wildlife officials, or we might simply shake our heads and walk away. Luckily for a great white shark that ended up washing up on a beach in Victoria, Shane Cox decided to take responsibility.
Saving a Beached Shark
In Australia, gummy sharks are plentiful, and local fishermen help to keep their population in check by catching and consuming them. Unlike many other shark species, the gummy shark has mild-tasting meat, making the prospect of landing one of these fish even more attractive. According to IUCN’s red list, gummy sharks are a species of least concern, so fishing enthusiasts are doing a good job of playing fair with nature when it comes to targeting these animals.
Shane Cox was fishing for a gummy shark on the day his on-shore encounter with the Great White happened. He thought he had the right species on his line, fighting it for quite some time before it broke free. About an hour later, the exhausted shark washed up on shore, with the hook still in its mouth.
Video footage of Mr. Cox shows an astonishing display of courage. Though this Great White shark is a smallish specimen that appears to be about two meters long, it is clearly strong, and it is about the same size as the man who managed to run up to its head and safely remove the hook from its mouth.
After removing the hook, Cox can be seen running to the shark’s back end, where he grabbed it by its powerful tail. Despite the shark’s strong thrashing motions, he managed to pull it backward, then drag it into the waves. Once back in the water, the Great White recovered quickly, swimming away once it reached deeper water with the fisherman’s help.
During the ordeal, the shark can be seen swimming back toward shore in confusion; while it is evident that Mr. Cox planned to stay with the animal until it managed to get itself safely away from the rolling waves, he did exercise caution by jumping out of the way of the shark’s head each time the animal began to thrash about.
What would you do in a situation like this? It is obvious that Mr. Cox put himself at risk by acting quickly to save this shark, and it is also extremely refreshing to see his commitment to returning the animal to its environment. While most people avoid taking personal risks, it is extremely encouraging to witness this man’s heroic action. In a world where so many people are either afraid of sharks or are hunting them for their fins, this man’s action go to show that people – even those who fish for certain sharks in places where they are abundant – understand the important role Great Whites and other apex predators play in the ocean environment. Clearly, conservation is becoming a greater priority for people from all walks of life.