IF YOU SPOTTED a group of small sharks in danger of losing their lives in a shrinking pool on a beach, what would you do?
For Jeff Williams and his family, there was no question: they would do their best to save them. Together, the family worked over the course of 35 minutes late last week to save the lives of 30 sharks who were in danger of dying on a beach in Rush.
They removed the sharks from a pool on the beach that was rapidly drying out, and brought them to safety in the sea.
Williams told TheJournal.ie that it all began when he went out to walk his dog at about 7.15am that day. A local woman, Colette Connolly, told him about the young sharks, which had been spotted in a pool about an hour earlier by local man Paul Carroll.
Williams and Connolly knew that the pool the sharks were in was drying out quickly.
“We had to think very fast,” said Williams. He ran back to his house, which was about 1km away, and got his jeep and a large plastic container. The beach isn’t usually accessible by car, but he knew of a section that he could drive through, and travelled onto the beach towards the pool.
Rescue
The Rush man had his family – father Jim Williams, wife Hazel Williams, and children Harley and Beau – with him in the jeep.
“We probably only had 35 minutes before the pool dried out to get them in the bucket,” said Williams, who believes the sharks were a form of tope shark. They placed the wriggling and unhappy sharks into the container two or three at a time, loaded the box into the jeep and then raced to the water line to release them.
“As much as they’re sharks, they’re fine,” Williams said of handling the creatures. It was only when they were taken out of the water that they were not happy, and he felt they did not pose a danger to his family.
It wasn’t worrying like that – they weren’t going for anybody. They wouldn’t touch anyone.
Williams said they were lucky to have been able to rescue the sharks. “It was a great experience… it was amazing. I’ve been living on that beach all my life and never come across something like that before. They normally stay out deep.”
“It was just kind of a freak thing,” said Williams. “You would have to rescue them. I knew they’d be dead – the water was well dried out and another 15 minutes later they would have [been dead].”
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