A walk on the beach led to a horrifying discovery for two women and their children on Tuesday.
Sarah Moerman and a friend were taking their children for a swim at a popular beach at Iluka in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, when they came across a shark with its fins hacked off in the shallows of the Clarence River.
At first the women thought the shark was dead, but were horrified to discover that the poor fish was still very much alive. Ms Moerman said that its gills were moving and its eyes were open, although it was obviously very weak.
Ms Moerman told The Northern Star: “It was very distressing to see its suffering. This shark needed to be put out of it misery,
She reported the plight of the shark to the coastguard, followed by a ranger, but got nowhere. She eventually called the police, who told her to take a large rock from the beach and drop it on the shark's head.
“How barbaric. That would never happen if it was a dolphin,” she told The Northern Star.
“We were all very distressed at the thoughtless butchering and the pain the shark had to endure."
Ms Moerman was so upset that her husband eventually put the shark out of its misery.
“I was appalled at the indifference to this animal’s suffering," she said. “An animal is an animal and this one needed human help because of what some humans had inflicted upon it.”
According to a separate report in The Daily Examiner, the dead shark was inspected by NSW fisheries officers. It was found to be a female Bull shark, similar to the one pictured above, measuring just under 3m and estimated to about 20 years old. Her first dorsal, lower tail fin and pectorals had been removed and the abdominal cavity had also been opened, suggesting that any pups may also have been removed and finned.
Shark fisherman Bill Litchfield told The Northern Star: "Hacking off a shark's fins is illegal. Professional shark fishermen would never do something like this. We would automatically lose our licence and those are worth six-figure sums. We wouldn’t risk it for $70 worth of fins.
“Whoever has done this has done it illegally. I would love to catch them."
Shark finning in NSW waters carries a $22,000 fine (around £12,350) and/or six months imprisonment.