MANZANITA, Ore. — A walk on the beach turned into an unforgettable experience for a woman on the Oregon coast when she jumped into action to save a beached salmon shark.
Colleen Dunn was walking her dogs on the beach in Manzanita as sunset approached on Oct. 10 when she saw a shark stranded in a shallow puddle. The tide had gone out and the shark was struggling with no way to get back to the ocean itself.
Dunn said she made multiple phone calls seeing if anybody could help. With time running out, she took quick action by picking up the shark — she said felt like sandpaper — by the tail. Dunn carried it 40-50 feet and tossing it back into the ocean.
“I realized quickly I needed to get him into deeper water. I just took action. Picked him up and did the best I could. Walked as deep as I could go in the ocean, just tossed him and I could see movement and I waited there for about 10 minutes,” Dunn told Central Oregon Daily News.
Dunn said the community is tight knit and active on Facebook. She hasn’t heard anything about a shark washing up again, which is likely good news. Regardless, she said even if she wasn’t able to save the shark, she was happy she could at least return it to its habitat.
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