Dog vs Hammerhead Shark
In the Bahamas, a dog takes on a hammerhead shark after jumping into the water.
On Feb. 16 2023, passengers on a boat tour of the Bahamas witnessed the tense faceoff between the animals, which began when the dog attempted to jump on the shark. A video of the scuffle was captured by the captain and crew of the tour boat, Rebecca Lightbourn, spokesperson for Exuma Water Sports, told a news station.
“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!”
“Dog vs Hammerhead” captured over two minutes of panicked commentary from passengers on the boat during the struggle between the dog and the shark. They don’t know the dog’s name, but Lightbourn said the Exuma Water Sports team nicknamed him Rufus.
As soon as Rufus jumps into the water off a nearby dock, he swims toward the shark. The video shows a large shadow of a 12-foot hammerhead shark swimming underwater near the boat. As one guest on the boat screams, “He’s going to bite the shark!”, the dog and shark circle each other in the water for several seconds, then appear to get into a bit of a fight.
One passenger yelled repeatedly, “Get out, baby, get out!” as Rufus remained in the water.
At the end of the video, the dog jumped up on rocks along the shoreline to exit the water before running back to the dock.
Some passengers commented that it looked like the dog was going to go after the shark again as they cheered and shouted “Good boy!”.
According to Lightbourn, the dog is a Bahamian Potcake, a type of domesticated stray owned by a private island caretaker.
A typical tour route passes the island twice a day, and Rufus greets passengers on the tour.
Lightbourn says the dog is “super friendly” and always runs along the water’s edge when the boat passes.
Lightbourn said passengers often see sharks on the boat tour, but they usually encounter reef sharks or bull sharks. Hammerhead sharks are less common, with sightings occurring only a few times a year.
Rufus and the crew on the boat took note of the shark’s rare sighting and slowed down so passengers could see it. But when the shark began to swim closer to the shore, Rufus did as well, leading to the showdown.
Lightbourn said crew members from Exuma Water Sports have seen Rufus in the days since the shark-dog encounter.
