Australian scuba divers courageously saved a shark from a cord that was strangling it — the nurse shark’s neck was wrapped in an elastic cord that was cutting into its gills.
The divers brought this to the attention of a marine vet, and they dove back down to bring the animal up to the surface. A SeaLife Sanctuary worker told 7News Sydney, “When you’re dealing with a wild animal like this anything can happen. Their teeth are always on display and they are very sharp.”
SeaLife veterinarian Rob Jones said, “If we hadn’t intervened, I have no doubt that it would have died. The elastic would have kept cutting deeper and deeper into the neck.”
The shark was released and given an antibiotic shot once the rope was cut.
Nurse sharks are considered mainly docile, even being nicknamed “labradors of the sea.” They estimate there are only 1500 of them left off the western coast of Australia.