Live shark dumped on Australian newspaper's doorstep

A live shark dumped on the doorstep of a Warrnambool newspaper office has survived thanks to the quick thinking of two police officers who made a mercy dash in a divvy van. A passerby notified police at 12.20am this morning after seeing the roughly 60 centimetre-long fish - believed to be a Port Jackson shark - lying at the front door of The Warrnambool Standard's office on Raglan Parade.

Constable Jarrod Dwyer and Acting Sergeant Greg Cresell poured water on the shark to keep it alive before taking it to the breakwater. "I nursed it on the front seat (of the divvy van) and we took it to the breakwater and put it back in the water near the boat ramp," Constable Dwyer said. "It was literally right on the doorstep of The Standard." He said the shark swam off when placed in the water.

Acting Sergeant Cresell said it was one of the most bizarre incidents he had come across in his time as a police officer. "We've had some strange things in the van before but never a shark," he said.



The Warrnambool man who alerted police to the presence of the shark yesterday told The Standard he couldn't believe his eyes. "I'd just come out of McDonald's and there was another gentleman there and he told me there was a shark on the doorstep," the man said.

"I thought he must have been drunk ... but I put a spotlight on it and the shark was just sitting there perfectly still and you could see its gills going. I drove around to the police station, I didn't have a phone on me at the time.

"I said to the policewoman at the counter: `I'm not sure how to explain this but there's a shark on the front door of The Standard and it's still alive' and she said `what?'. It's not something you hear about every day."