Photo: Delbert Harper / iStock / Getty Images
While walking her dogs along the beach near Nehalem Bay State Park in Oregon, Colleen Dunn encountered an unexpected sight on October 10—a juvenile salmon shark stranded in shallow water. Initially mistaking it for driftwood, Dunn realized the three-foot-long shark was gasping for air. With no visible injuries and no one nearby to assist, she decided to take action.
Dunn first moved the shark into a tide pool, hoping it would survive until the tide returned. However, as the tide receded and daylight faded, she knew she had to act quickly. Unable to reach park officials or her husband, Dunn lifted the shark by its tail and carried it to the ocean. "I picked him up and got as deep as I could in the water and tossed him," she recounted in a Facebook video.
To her relief, the shark began to swim as waves carried it farther out. Dunn watched for about 10 minutes until it disappeared from view. The following morning, she checked local social media for any reports of the shark washing back ashore but found none.
According to OregonLive, salmon sharks are common in Pacific waters and can grow up to 10 feet long. They are often mistaken for juvenile great whites. Juvenile salmon sharks are vulnerable to environmental stress, including cold shock and infections that impair brain function. Taylor Chapple, an associate professor at Oregon State University, explained that once a shark reaches shore, it's often too compromised to survive, even if returned to the ocean.
Despite the odds, Dunn chooses to believe the shark survived. "I don’t know if it survived, but I choose to believe he made it," she said. Salmon sharks are known for their ability to regulate body temperature, allowing them to hunt in colder waters, but young sharks often struggle with maintaining thermal inertia, making them susceptible to cold shock.