Vet Operates On Shark To Remove Fish Hook Lodged In Its Mouth

September 23, 2009

Release from: The Times (UK)

Florence the nurse shark has had lifesaving surgery in Dorset to remove a rusty fish hook that became lodged in her mouth.

Nick Masters, the vet at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, who had to spend 45 minutes with his hands in the shark’s mouth, said: "I’d never operated on a shark before. Anaesthetising a shark isn’t a precise science and it could have come round.

"But I’m glad to say the operation went well and Florence is doing fine now.”

Staff had found the hook when they gave Florence, from Florida, an ultrasound after noticing that she was off her food. She will now go on display at the National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham.