Shark returns to South Korea canal after failed rescue attempt

On October 21, South Korean officials struggled for hours to free a 3-meter-long female dusky shark, nicknamed Bukangi, from a canal in the port city of Busan. The shark had been trapped there since September 18 and had become a local celebrity, attracting over 1.6 million visitors. Rescuers used a floating platform and net to guide the shark through the narrow waterway but by late afternoon, it remained at the mouth of the canal instead of swimming out to open sea. The next day, October 22, the shark surprisingly returned to the canal after earlier attempts had led it back into open waters; it swam under a preventative net set up to stop its return.

Meanwhile, a group of self-appointed guardians, mostly YouTubers, patrolled the waterfront nightly for a month to protect the stranded shark from disturbances by curious visitors. Their efforts were widely recognized and appreciated online, with some videos receiving hundreds of thousands of views. Despite these attempts, as of October 24, Bukangi had not yet successfully made it back to open sea.