Oregon Woman Rescues Stranded Juvenile Shark in Daring Ocean Dash

In mid-October 2025, Colleen Dunn, a recent transplant to Oregon, was walking her dogs along the shoreline near Nehalem Bay State Park when she made an unexpected discovery. Dunn initially mistook a small, three-foot-long shark lying on its side and gasping for air as driftwood, but upon closer inspection, she realized it was a juvenile salmon shark stranded in the shallow water.

With no visible injuries and no one nearby to assist, Dunn decided to take action. She first tried to pull the shark into a nearby tide pool, hoping the water would sustain it until the tide returned. However, as the tide began to recede and daylight faded, Dunn knew the shark would not survive the night in the shallow puddle. Unable to reach park officials or her husband, Dunn made the daring decision to lift the shark by its tail and run it out to the surf as fast as she could.

To Dunn's surprise, the shark began to stir and swim as the waves carried it farther out. She watched for about 10 minutes until the shark disappeared from view. The next morning, Dunn checked local social media but found no reports of the shark washing back ashore, leaving her hopeful that her efforts had paid off.

Juvenile salmon sharks are known to be vulnerable to environmental stress and often wash ashore after developing infections that impair their brain function. Experts advise that anyone who encounters a stranded shark should report it to Oregon State University's Big Fish Lab, but Dunn's quick thinking and willingness to intervene may have saved this particular shark's life.