Diver finds tragic surprise when reviewing pics of hammerhead sharks
Gold Coast, Australia - Her day was a complete success, but when Amber Bourke checked her photos in the evening, she was stunned. Bourke, who is known in Australia as a record holder in free diving, discovered that in one of the photos, which shows three scalloped hammerhead sharks, something was hanging from one of the animals' mouths.
Last week, the Australian woman posted the image on her Instagram page, where she wrote: "Amazing to get to dive with endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks today. Unfortunately while editing this photo though I noticed the one on the right has a hook and line attached to it."
The 32-year-old had been diving near Australia's Gold Coast with others, and told Yahoo News it was the first time in her life she swam with hammerhead sharks in the wild.
Bourke explained: "I’d taken quite a few photos and came back and edited them that day.
"That one was probably my favorite photo of the day, I managed to get three of the sharks in one photo which I was really happy with."
The professional diver admits there was also something she saw in the snap that made her swallow quite hard.
Expert expresses further concerns
She explained the photo "was taken on a decent camera, so when I zoomed in it was pretty clear it had a hook just hanging off his mouth."
"There was a really good vibe down there, everyone just appreciating seeing these sharks in their natural habitat," Bourke said, noting that her later discovery of the hook put a damper on the experience in hindsight.
Even though these animals are considered endangered in Australia, some fishermen are not deterred from hunting them.
Some conservationists, including environmental scientist Paula Muscat, also expressed "frustration" when speaking to Yahoo News about the incident, due to a second glaring issue.
"You had all of these snorkelers chasing them around with their cameras for their Instagram and it was so disheartening," the expert explained.
Bourke's day turned out to be quite the bummer for wildlife conservation in the end.
Cover photo: Instagram/Screenshot/amberofthesea