WATCH: Beachgoers band together to save beached great white shark
It might have been too late, but it certainly wasn't too little an effort.
Around 100 beachgoers put up a brave attempt to save a stranded great white shark on a Cape Cod beach in Massachusetts on Sunday morning (Sept 6, US time).
While its rescuers – aided by a rope attached to an offshore boat – managed to drag the predator back into its natural habitat, the adult male shark – estimated by eyewitnesses to be about 14-foot long (4.3m) – died shortly after it reached the water.
Ms Robyn Schnaible, who was there at Whitecrest Beach with her family, captured the scenes on camera and uploaded the video on video-sharing site Vimeo.
In the description of her video, she wrote: "We got to Whitecrest... and came upon a huge crowd of people working to save a 14-foot male great white that had beached itself. The shark was still alive but not thriving.
"Several beachgoers were pouring buckets of water over him while others dug a holding pool and a trench to drag him back into the ocean. They had tied one end of a rope around its tail and a paddleboarder carried the other end out to a boat to help tow it in.
"It was an impressive effort, but unfortunately the shark did not swim off once he was back in the water."
Fish out of water
Shark expert Greg Skomal, who determined that the healthy shark could have died from internal bleeding after beaching itself and estimated its weight to be more than 2,000 pounds (907kg), told The Boston Globe that the apex predator could have already been dead before its rescuers dragged it into the water.
He said: "There's only so much you can do – it's a fish out of water. They're basically drowning."
Despite the shark's untimely demise, images of the kind Samaritans pulling together to save the distressed fish was certainly a heartwarming one.
In July, a smaller great white shark was rescued in a similar manner off another stretch of Cape Cod beach.
According to the Globe, the lucky juvenile has since been spotted several times in the waters off the shores it was rescued from.
Sources: Vimeo via The Independent, Boston.com, The Boston Globe
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