HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A baby hammerhead shark was rescued in the Ala Wai Canal on Thanksgiving night.
Video shows a marine biologist rescuing the shark in the canal that had a hook stuck near its eye.
“The shark was just turning around, we knew something was weird, something was not normal, and after we saw the hook, we just decided to jump into the canal,” said marine biologist Lauric Reynes.
Reynes said he was walking with a friend Thursday night when they saw the shark, and without hesitation, jumped into the canal and got the hook out.
“Fortunately, maybe we spent maybe two to three minutes in the canal just to try to remove the hook from the shark, and after we were happy to see that he went out and he was in good shape,” Reynes said.
He estimated the shark was around one meter (three feet) long and less than a year old, but still had to be cautious around it.
“After we removed (the hook), (the shark) was so happy,” he added.
Reynes added that the shark was most likely in brackish water, where salt and fresh water mix, since it was close to the McCully Street Bridge.
“For this kind of species, I would say it’s pretty rare because most of the time, they can only go so far in brackish water.”
Hammerhead sharks are not known to be aggressive, but Reynes said that we’re often swimming in their home.
“Most of the time, (sharks) aren’t aggressive,” he said. ”Don’t forget that we’re in the ocean, we’re in their home. We are exposed to this risk, and we have to know of this risk when we are swimming because (the ocean) is their home.”
Reynes said most of the time we speak about sharks, it’s because of shark bites and attacks, “but we don’t really speak about when something good happens to a shark.”
“It’s a good example because it happened the night of Thanksgiving,” he added.
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