North Carolina Paramedic Catches Hammerhead Shark Off Coast

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A North Carolina paramedic switched out the medical equipment for a fishing pole recently when he reeled in a 500- to 700-pound hammerhead shark off the coast.

Caldwell County paramedic Blake Cochran visits the coast once a month with some friends to try and catch sharks and red drums, WSOC reports. He managed to reel in a 13-foot hammerhead shark on a trip to North Topsail Beach, which he said was like "being hooked to a car."

"I knew it was something big," he said. "The biggest shark I've caught up to this point was like 4 feet, and this one, when I pulled it in, it was insane."

After snapping some photos for proof of the catch, Cochran and some friends released the shark back into the water, a move that was by no means an easy feat.

"He was pretty heavy," he said. "It takes two to three people. You wade out to your neck and revive them and then let them go."

Other people at the beach saw the massive shark and started worrying about going in the water.

"When we caught that one, a lot of folks came up and said, 'Oh my god, I'm not gonna let my kids swim here,'" he said. "There's sharks in the water. It's the ocean, it's their home. They're not gonna bother you unless you bother them."

The other beachgoers' concerns follow multiple sightings of sharks along the coast of North Carolina over the summer. While some appear to have been manta rays, others sightings ended with a trip to the hospital after getting bitten by a passing shark.


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