On Feb. 16, guests on a boat trip of the Bahamas experienced the tense face-off in between the animals, which began when the dog attempted to get on the shark. The scuffle was caught on video by the trip boat’s captain and team member, Rebecca Lightbourn from Exuma Water Sports, the operator of the boat, informed NBC News through email.
“We’re unsure if the dog just wanted to play or wanted to protect his home but he just jumped right in!” Lightbourn said in the email. “He managed to splash around and even tried to take a chunk out of his fin, but the shark swam off, pretty unsure of what just happened!”
The video, entitled “Dog vs Hammerhead,” captured over 2 minutes of the battle in between the dog and the shark, in addition to worried commentary from guests on the boat. Lightbourn said they do not understand the name of the dog, however included that the group at Exuma Water Sports nicknamed him Rufus.
The video reveals the big shadow of a 12-foot hammerhead shark swimming undersea near the boat. Seconds into the video, Rufus delves into the water off of a neighboring dock and swims towards the shark. For a number of seconds, the dog and shark circle one another in the water and appear to enter into a little bit of a scuffle, as one visitor on the boat screams, “He’s going to bite the shark!”
Passengers on board ended up being significantly more concerned for Rufus as he stayed in the water, with someone screaming consistently, “Get out, baby, get out!”
Finally, by the end of the video, the dog leapt up on to rocks along the coastline to leave the water prior to fleing back to the dock.
Passengers cheered, yelling “Good kid!” while someone asked, “How’d he get away with that?” Some likewise commented that it appeared like the dog was going to attempt to leap in after the shark once again.
Lightbourn said that the dog is a kind of domesticated roaming called a Bahamian Potcake and is the family pet of a caretaker on a personal island.
As part of the normal trip path, the boat passes the island two times a day, and guests on the trip are frequently welcomed by Rufus.
According to Lightbourn, the dog is “super friendly” and constantly runs along the edge of the water when the boat passes.
It’s not unusual for guests to see sharks while on the boat trip, Lightbourn said, however they generally just come across reef sharks or bull sharks. Hammerhead sharks appear less regularly, with sightings taking place just a couple of times each year.
On Feb. 16, the team on the boat kept in mind the unusual sighting of the big shark and decreased so guests might see the animal. But when the shark began to swim closer to the coast, Rufus likewise paid attention to it, resulting in the face-off.
In the days because the face-off in between the dog and the shark, team members from Exuma Water Sports have actually seen Rufus and said he is “100% A-ok,” Lightbourn said.
This post was initially released on TODAY.com
