Fishermen filmed themselves allegedly cutting off the tail of a shark before releasing it back into the ocean near Greenland, according to reports on June 3.
In a video, the fishermen cut off the tail of the shark to free their line before the shark tries to swim away. Blood is then seen streaming from the end of the shark.
The fishermen’s laughing faces are then seen in the video.
“Good luck trying to swim, you punk!” they said, according to local news outlets. The video has since gone viral on Facebook.
Yahoo reported that the two fishermen were fired from their jobs and could face animal cruelty charges for the stunt.
The footage was re-uploaded on Facebook after one of the fishermen deleted it from his account, Fox News reported.
A number of people called for their arrest on social media.
“It sucks to see that you are probably good men friends providers fathers but you [expletive] did this (sic),” Momoa wrote on Instagram. “Your life will forever change I have never in my life seen something so cruel. Your laugh makes me furious never have I wanted to hurt a human as much as I did when I heard your laugh and what u said. This will change you and hopefully you will save and protect I pray you find redemption. we all make mistakes but what u did was evil PURE EVIL.”
The owners of the fishing ship said it was a “horrendous event” and “completely unjustifiable.”
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“Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) are native to the Arctic and North Atlantic, and can grow to be up to 24 feet (7 meters) long and weigh up to 2,645 pounds (1,200 kilograms),” says the website.
The sharks move quite slowly at about one foot per second and can reach depths of about 9,100 feet, the website adds. “Creatures that swim the ocean depths are notoriously difficult to observe in their natural habitat, and there is still much to be learned about many species that have been known to science for decades — and Greenland sharks are no exception,” it says.
Julius Nielsen, an author of a 2016 study about Greenland sharks, said that “almost all of their biology is a mystery.”
