Dog's close encounter with bronze whaler shark

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

A man and his dog's morning walk turned terrifying today after a close encounter with a shark on Auckland's North Shore.

Auckland man Russell Barker was walking his kelpie cross Basil as per their usual routine at the eastern side of Hinemoa Park in Birkenhead when Barker said he saw what looked like a two metre bronze whaler shark approaching his dog in the shallows.

'Thankfully the shark surfaced and alerted me…and Basil was feeling obedient enough to respond to my panicked screams for his retreat.'

Barker said he hadn't seen anything like that before and might not take his dog to that spot until the weather got cooler again. He wanted to issue a warning to other paddlers and dog walkers to watch out for sharks.

Shark conservation expert Riley Elliott said a bronze whaler wouldn't be out of the ordinary in that area. 'Bronze whalers are the most common coastal shark.'

Elliott said the bronze whaler's most common prey was crustaceans and small fish though a noisy animal in the water like a dog might catch its eye. 'Any panicky animal will be intriguing to a predator but a shark has been around long enough to know what his food is so the danger would be very slim.'

The only warning Elliott issued was for people (and dogs) not to go swimming near where fishermen were burlying fish. 'Then you're just challenging the shark to make a mistake.'