Aussie fishermen's brave act to save shark: 'Cut to bits'
The shark showed no signs of resisting as the men removed six hooks from its mouth.
A group of Australian fishermen have been praised online after they jumped into the ocean to help a distressed shark with "six hooks" in its mouth.
The men spotted the shark in a waterway in Mandurah, Western Australia, on Thursday and quickly noticed it had become tangled up in "sinkers, fishing line and seaweed".
Footage of the rescue mission shows two men standing in the water as one of them holds down the shark and the other uses what appear to be pliers to remove the hooks embedded in the bronze whaler.
"He's got hooks all over him," one says as one of the men opens the shark's mouth, which he exclaims is "cut to bits".
Several people can be heard watching on from the rocks as a woman records the incident, which has since gone viral on TikTok. "Poor bugger!" an onlooker said.
After successfully removing the hooks, the men "let loose" and guided the shark towards the open water, sending it on its way.
'Absolute legends' praised online
The footage has attracted thousands comments from viewers, many of which praised the fishermen for being "absolute legends" and acting so quickly to ease the shark's pain.
Viral detail in diver's shark encounter wows viewers: 'Not shy'
Boy, 12, 'ecstatic' after catching massive great white shark
"You're the best shark fisherman you can get. Letting them go back in better condition than they come in," one man wrote, before adding, "Well done!".
"On ya boys! This is living like a proper Aussie," another said, while another joked, "That shark's calmer than me [at] the dentist".
Bronze whalers are commonly found in Western Australian waters. They are often sighted close to shore because they feed on schooling fish, explaining why this particular shark was so close to the rocks.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
