Baby great white shark to be released into ocean

AUSTRALIA: The baby great white shark found washed up on a Sydney beach has undergone a health assessment and is likely to be released into the ocean.

The 1.5-metre shark, nicknamed ‘‘Fluffy’’, was spotted flailing in the surf at Shelly Beach near Manly about midday on Monday.

Attempts to drag the injured shark back into the sea failed, so rescuers moved it to a stretcher and transferred it the Fairy Bower ocean pool, where it attracted a crowd of onlookers. The shark, which appears to have injuries to its mouth and tail, was later put in a truck and taken to Manly Sea Life Sanctuary, where it was transferred to an isolation tank and assessed overnight.

The sanctuary’s senior aquarist Robbie McCracken said the shark had made a dramatic recovery and was expected to be released into the ocean once it has approval from NSW Fisheries.

‘‘This animal is better suited to recovery out in its environment.’’

It is not known how the juvenile shark ended up beaching itself at Shelly Beach, which is adjacent to the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve.

McCracken said it was ‘‘extremely rare’’ for a shark to end up on the beach.

‘‘We are hoping that it sort of mistakenly found its way into an area it didn’t intend to be and got a bit tired and exhausted and then stressed with the waves and all the people around it.

‘‘Hopefully when we let it back out quite a way offshore in much deeper water it will be able to recover.

‘‘These great white sharks usually are animals that would tend to be offshore a bit, out in the deeper more unrestricted waters.

‘‘This one for whatever reason found its way up into the beaches of Manly and then into the surf zone where it came into a bit of grief.

‘‘That is where we were able to step in and sort of intervene.’’

- Fairfax/AAP