Divers in Sydney rescue injured shark pup
Divers in Sydney, Australia have rescued an endangered Grey Nurse Shark pup which had fishing hooks caught in its jaw.
A local diver spotted the 1.2 metre pup, nicknamed ‘Wendy’, near Sydney’s Marouba Beach. A delicate underwater recovery mission was immediately launched.
A team of 12 divers prepared for the dangerous underwater rescue. Apparently, the Grey Nurse pup was in a bad way.
Sea Life vet Dr Rob Jones said: “They get a sore mouth and so they can’t eat. So this shark was very, very skinny.”
Divers from Manly Sea Life and the Department of Primary Industries took a shark bag down to the ocean floor.
Wearing thick wetsuits and chain-mail gloves, they guided the one-year-old shark inside.
Dr Townsend added: “We pass it up to the waiting veterinarian to perform the next stage and probably the most critical stage of the mission.”
The animal was taken by stretcher to a boat waiting above the surface. Vets performed some daring dentistry using bolt cutters and pliers.
It is only the second successful Grey Nurse rescue the team has completed in the wild. Earlier this year, another shark from the same Magic Point colony was given a new chance at life.
There are only 1500 Grey Nurse Sharks left on Australia’s east coast.
Source: au.news.yahoo.com
