When Iowa resident Randi Willard came across a shark stranded in shallow water on her Myrtle Beach vacation, she wanted to help the animal but wasn’t sure how.
Willard was next to a swash on the beach near Damon’s Grill in Myrtle Beach Monday night when she noticed the shark and rushed to try to help maneuver it back to the ocean.
“Any animal I see in danger, I’ll run right towards it,” Willard said. “My heart was pounding as I ran up. I was like, ‘I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing here,’ but I was going to figure it out.”
But before Willard could reach the shark, a wave washed it farther inland. Now in deeper water and out of Willard’s reach, the shark was able to swim but still on the beach.
“I stood around for a while to see if I could see it any longer. The water was pretty deep. I couldn’t see it, so I headed back,” said Willard.
Still concerned, Willard took to Facebook for help. On the advice of commenters, she reached out to the Myrtle Beach Police Department’s non-emergency line and was told to contact the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR).