Quick action by two Australian police officers in the city of Warrnambool , Victoria saved the life of a small shark that had been dumped on the doorstep of a local newspaper. A passerby notified police at 12.20 a.m. that there was a shark on the doorstep of The Warrnambool Standard and that it appeared to be alive.
Acting Sergeant Greg Cresell:
We’ve had some strange things in the van before but never a shark.
Constable Jarrod Dwyer nursed the animal in the front seat of a police divisional van as he and Acting Sergeant Greg Cresell kept the shark alive by pouring water on it as they rushed to a nearby breakwater. The officers released the shark near a boat ramp and it swam away.
While not positively identified, it is believed that the animal was a Port Jackson shark, which is harmless except for two venomous spines located near the dorsal fin.
Figure legends
Left: An Australian police divisional van; Middle: A Port Jackson shark pictured in the wild, believed to be the species that officers Dwyer and Cressell encountered; Right: The shark rescued by officers Dwyer and Cresell. [The Age]
