A woman walking her dogs on an Oregon beach rescued a small salmon shark that had become trapped in shallow water, according to the Associated Press.
Colleen Dunn said she spotted the struggling shark last month while she was out on the shoreline near Manzanita, close to Nehalem Bay State Park.
The 3-foot shark was stuck in a low-tide pocket and unable to move water through its gills.
Unsure what she was dealing with — at first she thought it might be a young great white — Dunn said she hesitated to intervene.
“I was essentially nervous about touching it at all,” she wrote in a text on Wednesday. “I have three kids so I didn’t wanna put myself in a dangerous position.”
She tried calling her husband, who works at an office at the nearby state park, but couldn’t reach him.
With her dogs waiting beside her, Dunn decided to act.
She grabbed the shark by its tail and carried it to deeper water while recording the moment on her phone.
Once submerged, the shark began pushing water through its gills again and swam away.
Dunn said she later shared the video with a local social media group and hasn’t heard any reports of the shark washing back ashore.
She recently moved with her family to Manzanita after living in Hawaii and said the ocean has always played a grounding role in her life.
“I’ve lived in other places across the Pacific, and the ocean has always been my grounding place,” she said. “Being engaged with it, watching the tides, noticing the wildlife, even stepping in when a creature needs help keeps me present and humble.”
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