A group of brave beachgoers banded together to save a large stranded shark that washed ashore on Pensacola Beach in Florida.
Dramatic mobile phone footage was captured by Tina Fey, who came to the beach from Texas with her husband Josh Fey, to celebrate their anniversary, she told WKRG.
What went from a relaxing day out soaking up the sun, suddenly turned into a heart-stopping moment as the group tried to roll the shark back into the sea.
In a Facebook post by Ms Fey, she said that they had called wildlife rescue and lifeguards, but was told there was nothing they could do to help the beached shark.
“It just showed up while we were swimming. I just so happened to beach itself right in front of us,” Ms Fey wrote. “We took action to get him back in the water since the wildlife people and lifeguards told us there was not[hing] they could do.”
Despite its lively thrashing and huge razor teeth, it took three beachgoers to get a hold of the shark’s tail to move the mammoth sea creature off the beach into shallow water.
The shark at first aggressively flailed about while the beachgoers manoeuvred it further.
In the video, you can hear Ms Fey exclaim “babe, look at them freaking teeth,” before zooming in on the monstrous set of jaws.
At this point, four people had gotten behind the shark in the water trying to pull the heavy animal.
The shark showed its huge jaws as four men were on its tail pulling it back into the sea— (Tina Fey)
Onlookers were concerned that the operation may be too dangerous to complete without lifeguards there.
“If I didn’t have an eight-month pregnant wife, I’d get in there and help you,” said one person off-camera.
After a few attempts of dragging the beast back into the sea, the shark finally returned to the water, with Mr Fey guiding his tail out back into the ocean.
After the shark had gotten its strength back, it started to swim away, with the beachgoers rejoicing.
They may have been pleased that the shark was alive, but even more relieved no one’s limbs met their fate with the shark’s large jaws.
“Thank you to the guys that helped us,” Mr Fey told WKRG. “You know, if it wasn’t for them, I would not be able to move her. She was every bit of 5 to 600 pounds; I would think. I couldn’t budge her; it took four of us to enter into the water. I hope everybody else that comes to beaches and sees a distressed animal like that, you know, with sea turtles or anything like that, that they help them out.”
The creature was believed to be a Mako shark, an aggressive predator that is found mostly off the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Sharks are very common in Florida’s nearshore waters and bays as they use them for nursery grounds for their pups, says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
