A Sydney woman has been filmed picking up a shark in a rock pool with her bare hands and returning it to the ocean.
The video, which shows Melissa Hatheier reaching down to grab the one-metre long shark in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla, has understandably received a lot of attention.
In a very understated interview with the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader, Hatheier said: “I just threw him over the edge of the pool into the water and watched him swim away.”
Our in house Shark Wrangler Melissa Hatheier wrestling a shark out of Oak Park Rock Pool yesterday morning! Nice work Mel! #nextlevel #classicMel
Posted by Cronulla Real Estate on Monday, October 9, 2017
“My mum, who swims at Oak Park every morning, called me just after 7am on Monday and said, ‘There’s a shark in the rock pool,’” Hatheier said.
The real estate agent went down to the pool with her kids and said it was easy to spot the shark swimming around. After getting close to it, Hatheier said the shark became stressed and started hitting its head against the rocks.
“I herded the shark into the shallows and then I just sort of jumped on him and put my knees on his fins. I then grabbed him around the neck so he couldn’t swing around and bite me.”
She added: “He wasn’t that heavy but his skin was very rough, like sandpaper.”
The shark was thought to be a Port Jackson, and Hatheier’s act in freeing it has been dubbed “the most Australian thing ever” on social media.
