A juvenile great white shark that washed itself up along Cape Cod was rescued by beachgoers, and a video that shows them helping get the shark back out to sea has gone viral with 1.2 million views since Monday.
The
YouTube video posted by Mike Bartel says the shark was chasing seagulls near Chatham when it beached itself while in the pursuit. The YouTube video shows beachgoers throwing water on the beached shark before they drag it back into the water.
"Last year we know that sharks were in that area, and that it got shallow and it was hard for them to get out," Cynthia Wigren of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy told
WCVB-TV. "It was hard for them to get out, but for a shark to be beached, is a big deal."
The beachgoers who saw the stranded shark said it appeared to be doomed on the beach without some sort of human intervention.
"There was no way for the shark to get to where it could swim, so it just kept flapping and moving over," said Kelly Skanell.
Isabel Hegland said some people did what they could to help the shark.
"What we did once it was completely beached is throw buckets of water, because we thought that would sort of help keep it alive," said Hegland.
Marine Fisheries officials tagged the young shark, which was about seven-feet long, before dragging it back out to sea.
Greg Skomal, of the Division of Marine Fisheries, and harbormaster Stuart Smith freed the shark about one mile off shore,
according to Tribune Media.
Beachgoers recorded parts of the rescue on social media.
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