Here’s something you don’t see every day, nor do you want to. Over the weekend, beachgoers in Nantucket (one of my favorite places in the summer) came across a white shark beached on the shoreline. The video is embedded below.
According to USA Today, “Liza Phillips was tossing a football with her dad and brother at Low Beach in Nantucket, when they noticed “a beach creature in the distance.” She grabbed her phone and ran towards the animal, Phillips told Storyful. “We were all in shock watching this beautiful beast struggling and dying, full of sandburn rashes.”
Phillips said, “I felt helpless watching it flounder in the surf, but I remember looking back and seeing a friend of ours take off his shirt and I knew we both had to step in and help the shark back to sea.” Turns out two good Samaritans helped the floundering marine animal back to the Atlantic ocean by gently pushing it. It took a couple of pushes and the shark eventually swam away.
I would have done the same thing but thanks to USA Today and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) I now know not to.
The PMMC says, “Do not pour water on the animal. Federal law prohibits touching, feeding, harassing, removing or returning a beached mammal to the water.”
I doubled checked the information with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and they say on their website: “If you see an entangled, stranded, sick, injured, or dead animal, please report it. Keep your distance from the animal to prevent further stress to it and possible injury to you both.
-Marine Mammals—whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions
-Call your local stranding network
-Or, use our Dolphin & Whale 911 iPhone/iPad app
-Use your camera or cell phone to take a photo of the animal from a safe distance. This can help responders identify the species and the steps necessary to help it.
-Wait (if you can) for a trained and authorized responder to arrive so you can help them locate the animal. Watch it from a safe distance.
-Don’t chase or corral the injured animal if it tries to move away.
-Keep the area calm and quiet (to the extent you can) and encourage others to keep their distance and keep dogs on a leash.”
Once I was on Orpheus Island in Australia and walking along the shoreline by myself when I came across what I thought was an eel stuck in the small tide pools. I almost helped it out but fortunately it quickly swam away from before I reached it. I took a photo and later found out it was a deadly sea snake. Gulp!
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They found a loophole since sharks aren’t mammals.