Florence the nursing shark

[luke the carpy]

Florence the nursing shark was sent from flordia along with 4 other sharks, the 4 other sharks were ready to be sent to aquariums all over the UK, florence was chosen to go to birmingham sealife, florence was off her food anfd behaving differentaly.

The experts tried steroid injections to stimulate Florence's appetite and when that didn't work they gave her an ultrasound scan.
they found a fish hook burried deep in the roof of her mouth.

So the team decided to remove the hook. Since this would be the first operation on a shark out of water that meant cobbling together the gear needed to perform the surgery successfully. The team anaesthetised Florence in her tank and then lifted her onto a table. Those yellow pipes were used to continually pump water over her gills so she could breathe. Water was gently poured over her during the operation to stop her drying out.


The hook was buried right inside the top of her mouth and there was little sign of it externally. But a tiny scar guided the vet to the spot and making a small incision eventually allowed the hook to be removed and then the wound stitched up.

the hook was also very rusty wich may have caused mor illness