Facebook/Garry Arndell A group of fishermen from New South Wales have captured and killed a giant bull shark, and later discovered it was carrying nine babies.
The four friends had been fishing in the Hastings River, around 50km west of Port Macquarie on New South Wales’s north coast, when they reeled in the huge beast.
According to reports, the river is popular with local residents for swimming and water skiing despite there being several shark sightings.
Facebook/Garry ArndellFollowing their catch, they hung the colossal shark from a hook to demonstrate its size before slicing the shark at the stomach, discovering the nine babies she was carrying.
In the gruesome picture, you see the baby sharks lined up across the floor by the bloodied, dead mother.
The killing of the shark has sparked controversy, with some congratulating the men while others criticise them.
Facebook/Garry ArndellOne MailOnline reader commented:
Congratulations men, you killed 10 sharks in their natural habitat minding their own business
Another reader agreed, saying:
I am so angry at peoples cruelty to our worlds wildlife … Extinction is forever… Why can these people keep killing our worlds wildlife… Heartless and disgusting… humans are the cancer of our planet…
On the other hand, someone argued if the shark was in ‘our waters’ – presumably meaning the UK – they would have been given medals for killing it.
Someone else simply deemed their actions as ‘spot on’.
Facebook/Garry ArndellIn contrast to this story, back in November, a man was praised for risking his life to save a shark that was stranded on a beach in New Zealand.
Conservationist John Grimshaw found the shark stranded on its side after it had become trapped in boating rope, which had dragged it to shore.
Josh grabbed the shark by its tail and turned it on to its front before he started making his way backwards to the ocean, gently pulling it along with him.
It was unclear how long the shark had been beached for, but thankfully Josh’s rescue came at the right time as he said it ‘managed to swim off no worries at all’. Without his intervention, the shark would have died.
One Instagram user deemed the man a ‘legend’ for his actions, while someone else said world needed more people like him.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.