{"id":937026,"date":"2026-10-22T15:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/937026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:06:11","slug":"third-attempt-to-rescue-shark-trapped-in-south-korean-port-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/937026\/","title":{"rendered":"Third attempt to rescue shark trapped in South Korean port fails"},"content":{"rendered":"

She has become one of the most popular attractions in South Korea, with more than 1.6 million people flocking to the port city of Busan for a glimpse.<\/p>\n

A month ago the 3-metre dusky shark unexpectedly entered the city’s canal \u2014 one of Asia’s busiest ports \u2014 and now appears reluctant to leave.<\/p>\n

The shark, named Bukangi, has become so popular she is now a mascot for the city and Busan Mayor Chun Jae-soo thanked her for generating publicity he said would otherwise have cost “trillions”.<\/p>\n

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There have been three attempts to help her return to the ocean, including a mammoth operation on Wednesday, during which hours were spent guiding her with floating platforms, nets and divers.<\/p>\n

A few hours later, the oceans ministry said the shark had swum under one of the nets and back into the canal.<\/p>\n

It said Bukangi’s condition was stable but authorities were worried the shark had not been feeding regularly and could face health risks from falling water temperatures.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The shark entered the canal in September. (Cha Keun-ho\/Yonhap via AP)<\/p>\n

South Korean National Institute of Fisheries Science senior researcher Kim Hyun-woo said it was possible the bright lights and noise from vessels had interfered with the shark\u2019s senses and the canal now appeared to be a safe space for it.<\/p>\n

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“The shark has been staying inside the canal for an extended period, so I didn’t expect it to head straight out into the open water,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It would be best to give it about a week to leave on its own.”<\/p>\n

Officials have opened the outer net and reinforced barriers to prevent the shark from retreating further back into the canal.<\/p>\n

Environmentalists believe climate change and warming ocean temperatures may have caused the shark to enter the canal.<\/p>\n

Dusky sharks are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.<\/p>\n

Reuters\/AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She has become one of the most popular attractions in South Korea, with more than 1.6 million people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":937027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,503858,503861,503862,503859,139655,128,503860,338],"class_list":["post-937026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bukangi","tag-bukangi-the-shark","tag-busan-canal","tag-busan-shark","tag-dusky-shark","tag-science","tag-shark-trapped-south-korea","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}