Most people would completely freak out if they were to see the dreaded fin of a predator swimming alongside them.
But Cronulla Real Estate employee/bona fide Aussie legend Melissa Hatheier has earned the title of ‘the shark-wrangler’ after she was filmed picking up a bronze whaler and tossing it to safety.
The infant shark had got into the Oak Park Rock Pool in Cronulla and Ms Hatheier came to the rescue by picking it up and calmly tossing it back into the ocean.
The incredible incident was caught on film by Ms Hatheier’s daughter Shannon (you can watch at the top). The footage was then uploaded to Cronulla Real Estate’s Facebook with the caption:
“Our in house Shark Wrangler Melissa Hatheier wrestling a shark out of Oak Park Rock Pool yesterday morning! Nice work Mel! #nextlevel #classicMel”
At time of publishing, it’s been viewed more than 35,000 times.
Credit: Cronulla Real Estate
Ms Hatheier recounted the story to Channel 9’s Today show:
“I got home from the gym, and my gorgeous mum who swims every morning down here in the rock pool rang and said this there is a shark in the pool,” she began.
“And I said, OK don’t worry, I will come down. So I came down, there was a bit of a crew down here, and had a look and he was a little Port Jackson and was doing laps of the pool and I said, you know I’m going to go in and check him out.
“I jumped in and I thought, ‘I reckon I can probably get him out.’ And Mum, god love her, called 000 so the police came down as well.
“And they didn’t know what to do. So I said, I think I can just grab him. So I herded him into the shallows and then I just sort of got on my knees. With his fins, I picked him up and helped him back.
“He was getting stressed because he was bumping into the rocks and I was thinking I just need to put him back where he is meant to be.”
The have-a-go hero had a heartwarming reason for protecting her mother:
“You know what, I lost my beautiful dad nearly a year ago, to cancer,” she said. “The last thing he said is, ‘Please look after Mum. So we are looking after Mum. I made sure the pool was safe and she can swim.”
What a legend!
