An Oregon woman, Colleen Dunn, successfully rescued a young salmon shark that was stranded and struggling to breathe during low tide on a beach in Manzanita, Oregon. Dunn was walking her dogs when she noticed the small, approximately 3-foot (1-meter) shark in distress near the shoreline. Although she initially feared it was a dangerous great white shark, she decided to intervene when she realized the animal was suffocating.
The Rescue
- Dunn filmed the encounter, capturing the moment the shark became caught on its back in the shallow water.
- She quickly took action, grabbing the shark by its tail (a maneuver she recalled from watching “Shark Week”).
- Dunn then dragged the shark along the sand and water, eventually lifting it completely by the tail and running it to deeper water as the waves hit the shore.
- Once tossed into the deeper water, the salmon shark was able to force water through its gills and swim out of sight.
Experts suggest that these small salmon sharks, which are endothermic (warm-bodied), can sometimes get into trouble when cold water induces a cold shock, compromising their immune systems and causing them to wash up on beaches. Dunn later shared the encounter on social media, and there were no subsequent reports of the shark washing ashore again.
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Source: MSN
