Shark 'jumps' into popular swimming enclosure
A toddler came close to taking a dip with a 1.5 metre shark lurking in a Gold Coast swimming enclosure after it “jumped over” the enclosure’s inflatable wall.
A Queensland mother recorded video of the bull shark trapped in the Tipplers Island Resort swimming enclosure, at South Stradbroke Island on Sunday.
Terrifyingly, Jeanette Haskew told how her daughter Grace, 4, almost jumped in with the shark.
Sharing the video on Sunday, Ms Haskew wrote: ” 5 – 6 foot Bull Shark in the swimming enclosure at Tipplers
You wouldn’t read about it.”
In the footage, the little girl can be heard saying “I can’t swim in there”, after spotting the 1.5 metre predator.
“Normally my little girl jumps straight in,” Ms Haskew told the Sunshine Coast Daily of her close encounter with the shark, about 9.45am on Sunday.
“But someone said it looked like a dolphin was in there, so we ran over and had a look.”
The Hope Island woman was shocked to find the large fish was in fact a shark, not a dolphin.
Ms Haskew assumed the creature may have made its way into the enclosure during one of the coast’s recent king tides, however the council said the shark likely jumped in while chasing bait fish.
“With the increased activity of bait fish in the water at this time of year, it’s not unusual for Bull Sharks to breach out of the water. It is assumed the shark may have entered the enclosure by jumping over the enclosure’s inflatable perimeter,” a council spokesperson told Yahoo7.
Workers closed the enclosure and deflated the floats allowing the shark to swim away by itself, the council said.
“City officers acted quickly and temporarily closed the enclosure off from the public. The perimeter floats were deflated, allowing the enclosure nets to fall to the bottom allowing the shark to swim out of the enclosure.”
The net was inspected on Monday and no damage or holes were found in the net that the shark could have swam through. The shark has not been sighted in the area since.
Ms Haskew said the shark appeared stressed and preoccupied with trying to get out of the enclosure, rather than attacking.
“My daughter was fine, she ended up going for a little dip beside the enclosure.”
The footage shared on Sunday has been viewed more than 165,000 times on Facebook, and shared more than 2,100 times.
