A group of catch-and-release shark fishermen in Florida got a big surprise night after they reeled in an injured 12-foot hammerhead shark – that was pregnant! And then helped her deliver more than 20 pups.
It took more than two grueling hours on May 4 for the anglers to reel-in the huge fish and one of the fishermen recklessly jumped into the water to bring the shark to the Venice shore.
That’s when the group noticed that the shark had a large bite mark on it and they could see baby hammerheads squirming around inside.
“Out of the bite mark we could see the little babies, the little pups, we could see them moving around inside of her,” Ashley Travis told Newsday by phone.
The crew wasn’t about to let the babies die without trying to save them. So they took charge and helped deliver the babies.
“It was life-changing,” Travis said. “I’ve never seen anything giving birth before.”
Even though the mother shark died, the men were able to release all the healthy baby sharks into the water.
Travis posted the video on her Facebook page where it now has more than 10,000 shares.
Warning: Video contains profanity and graphic images.