NANTUCKET, MASS. (WHDH) - A California woman is recalling the moment she and her family assisted a stranded great white shark back into deeper water at a beach on Nantucket and says she didn’t think twice about springing in to help.
The great white was struggling in the sand when Lia Phillips, her family, and a house guest went from playing football along Low Beach in Sconset to getting waist-deep in the water with the apex predator.
“I see the jaws, I see the dead black eye, and I’m like that’s a great white shark,” she said.
After giving it several pushes, the shark was finally deep enough to swim away.
“You don’t expect yourself to feel bad for a great white shark because they are such apex predators and so scary,” she said, adding, “It didn’t seem like that big of a deal it just felt good to help a creature that needed help.. and I hope that it tells its shark friends not to mess with me because I’m a friend not a foe.”
Though it was a risky rescue, Phillips said knowing the shark was in distress made it an easier decision.
“I will say at the time I didn’t feel crazy I could tell it was so weakened it was very, very just about to die … I didn’t really see it turning around and chomping my leg off, it didn’t seem like that was the case, it just wanted to get back in the water.”
Experts say if you see a beached animal you should not approach it and call the experts instead.
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