Swimmers were forced to flee the sea at a popular surf spot in Australia after a number of bull sharks attacked and killed a dolphin in the shallows.
Hundreds of spectators had lined the beach for Manly Surf Carnival in Northern Sydney, but the whole thing was brought to a shuddering halt after the gang of sharks were reported close to the shore.
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The lifeguards on Shelly Beach moved quickly to get the swimmers out of the water when the three-metre sharks were reported, with surfers close to entering the water for the surf contest as well.
In the end, they were stopped from going in by the shark alarm when it was realised that the sharks had attacked an injured dolphin that they’d discovered near to the shore.
It’s just in their nature.
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They are sharks, after all.
The dolphin was having an awful time of it, circling around in the shallows being stalked by the large sharks.
One woman even tried to wade in to save the creature, but to no avail.
Emily Pettersson said: "I saw the dolphin swim past on one side and I saw a shadow on the right side.
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"So I turned around and there's probably about a three metre bull shark. But it wasn't even looking at me, it was just going for the dolphin."
Probably best not to get between a three metre bull sharks and its dinner, to be fair.
Emily then turned her attention to getting the other people out of the water as the sharks started to seem ‘a bit agitated’.
"There would have been 200 swimmers in the water with the sharks going up and down,” she said.
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"I think the dolphin had been attacked by the shark, the fin was mangled, you could see it was falling off." The dolphin was ‘injured and tired’ by this point, according to another bystander.
In the end it became beached before swimmers and lifeguards dragged it up further onto the beach.
Surf lifeguards and members of the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia, as well as experts from Taronga Wildlife Hospital tried to save the creature’s life, but it was too late.
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The bottlenose dolphin had sustained a number of serious bites to its tail and body.
A statement from Taronga Zoo said: “The deceased dolphin has since been transported to the Australian Wildlife Registry based at Taronga Wildlife Hospital to undergo a necropsy."
The Manly Open Surf Classic was suspended until further notice because of the sharks, and the beach was also closed down.
Surf Live Saving NSW said that the beach would be closed on Sunday too because ‘the assessment’s been made there are too many sharks in the area’.
A statement added: "A Surf Life Saving UAV has been monitoring the shark activity from the air and has spotted a number of sharks in the area."
Topics: World News, Australia, Animals
Tom Wood