What started as an ordinary day playing guitar quickly turned into a once-in-a-lifetime experience for 15-year-old Finn Holland.
The Maces Bay teen has received a lot of praise after helping to guide a stranded porbeagle shark back to the waters off New River Beach, near his home.
“My mom came in and informed me that our neighbour told us that there was allegedly a shark on the beach,” Holland said.
Living just steps from the shoreline, the family didn’t waste any time heading down to investigate.
“We went down there as quickly as we could,” he said.
What they found there, was something Holland never expected to see.
“We saw that there was actually a shark.”
It was later identified as a porbeagle shark, and it appeared to be in serious trouble.
“I saw it in the distance. We went straight up to it,” Holland recalled. “It looked almost dead, like on the brink of death.”
Wanting to see whether the shark was still alive, Holland approached it carefully.
“I wanted to see if it was alright, and I gave it a touch, and it moved a bit.”
When the shark began moving and flopping around, Holland knew he had to act.
He slowly grabbed the shark by its tail fin and dragged it back toward the water.
“I helped it guide itself to swim off and get back to ocean business,” he said.
The urgency shown by Holland has generated a lot of attention. They Mayor of Fundy Shores, Denny Cogswell, recognized Holland on social media, “A huge thank you to Finn for his determination and for helping return this shark safely to the water. What a great example of a young person stepping up to help.”
Holland told our newsroom that it feels pretty good to have helped a living thing, “I’m proud of myself,” he said. “I did the right thing.” He added that he didn’t focus on the potential risks; he just thought about trying to save the shark.
The fact that his name is Finn has also sparked plenty of comments online, and the incident will always stand out. “Definitely. I don’t think I’ll ever see a shark again,” he said. “This is like a rare, rare, once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
