A daring shark whisperer tickles a 14-stone predator as he removes a fishing hook from its jaws. These incredible pictures, by a British snapper, show diver Walter Bernardis coming to the fearsome beast’s rescue.
The hook got caught in the shark’s mouth as it fed in Aliwal Shoal, a marine-protected coral reef off Umkomaas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Shark handler Walter first flipped the 8ft blacktip on to its back. This put it into a state of temporary paralysis called tonic immobility, a sort of hypnotic state.
Walter and his assistants then gently removed the hook before releasing the shark. At this point, it snapped out of its catatonic state.
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