Marine experts off Sydney, Australia, made a daring, first-of-its-kind rescue to save a grey nurse shark being choked to death by an elastic cord that somehow got wrapped around its gills and was acting like a noose. 
 
 The challenge was that rescue divers needed to capture the shark, belonging to the most critically endangered shark species, and bring it to the surface. 
 
 “When you’re dealing with a wild animal like this anything can happen,” Rob Townsend of SeaLife sanctuary and aquarium told 7News Sydney. “Their teeth are always on display and they are very sharp.” 
 
 How would they capture the shark? 7News Sydney has video detailing the procedure and amazing rescue: 
 
 The grey nurse shark was spotted off Magic Point, known as critical shark habitat. The shark’s labored breathing was a sign it was slowly dying. 
 
 A team of divers and a veterinarian from SeaLife used a clear-plastic shark sock and coaxed the shark into it. The see-through characteristics of the massive sock resulted in other sharks entering, too. 
 
 Once in the sock, the injured shark was wrestled into a special stretcher and taken to the surface, where vet Rob Jones cut away the suffocating cord and gave the shark a shot of antibiotics to prevent infection. 
 
 “If we hadn’t intervened, I have no doubt it would have died, the elastic would have kept cutting deeper and deeper into the neck,” Jones told 7News Sydney. 
 
 The shark swam away, and though the wound looks pretty bad, officials said it should heal in a month or so. 
 
 Only an estimated 1,500 of the grey nurse sharks remain off the Australian coast, so saving one is certainly a commendable act. 
 
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 A TEENAGE girl has died after being mauled by a shark while surfing with her father off a beach near Esperance on Monday. 
 
 The 17-year-old is understood to have lost her left leg in the attack at the popular Kelp Beds surf break at Wylie Bay east of Esperance about 4pm. 
 
 It happened off the same beach where surfer Sean Pollard lost his arms in a shark attack nearly three years ago. 
 
 It is understood the girl’s father had been some distance away at the time of the attack and heard her scream before she was pulled under water by the shark. 
 
 When she resurfaced, her father paddled over and dragged her to the shore with the help of another teenager. 
 
 The girl’s mother and two younger sisters were at the beach and watched the dramatic events unfold. 
 
 media_camera Bandy creek 
 
 The family, who are believed to be from the Mandurah area and were holidaying in Esperance, helped provide emergency first aid until police and an ambulance crew arrived. 
 
 It is understood the girl was unconscious and had major blood loss by the time she arrived at Esperance Hospital, where doctors continued the desperate effort to save her life. 
 
 She was pronounced dead a short time later. 
 
 Authorities believe it was likely the girl was attacked by a great white shark, but the size of the shark is not known. 
 
 media_camera Esperance shark attack. Picture: 7 News Perth 
 
 The beach was closed Monday night and is expected to remain closed on Tuesday. PerthNow understands the area around Wylie Bay has been a hotbed of shark sightings and activity since Mr Pollard, of Bunbury, lost both hands while surfing there in October 2014. 
 
 Mr Pollard was bumped by a second shark as he floated in the water in a massive pool of blood. 
 
 Miraculously, four strangers on the beach who all knew first aid were able to save his life. 
 
 That incident prompted the Department of Fisheries to invoke its serious-threat policy and deploy drum lines, which caught two great white sharks including one that was tagged. 
 
 Fisheries last night declined to say whether it would deploy any gear after yesterday’s attack. 
 
 17yo girl fighting for her life after Wylie Bay shark attack. #esperance pic.twitter.com/kCNdidIXa6 — Caitlyn Rintoul (@caitlynrintoul) April 17, 2017 
 
 Professional fisherman and surfer Neville Mansted said the girl’s death was tragic. 
 
 “We heard the sirens and then when we heard there had been an attack,” he said. Mr Mansted said he would never surf at the beach again. 
 
 “That’s twice now in the same spot. It could have been my son,” he said. 
 
 Mr Mansted, whose family holds a shark fishing licence, said there were more great white sharks than ever in the waters off Esperance. The decision to declare them endangered in 1995 had been a mistake. 
 
 “They are breeding like flies. Shark fishers see them all the time,” he said. 
 
 Department of Fisheries said water users should not surf, swim or dive in the Wylie Bay area for at least the next 48 hours. 
 
 The Shark Smart WA website lists two shark sightings for the area around Esperance over the past week - a medium-sized great white 150 metres off shore last Tuesday at Two Mile Beach in Hopetoun, with the same shark also seen 300 metres off shore at Crazies Reef. 
 
 WA SHARK ATTACK VICTIMS SINCE 2000 
 
 November 2000 
 
 KEN CREW, 48 
 
 Fatally mauled in knee-deep water at North Cottesloe beach. 
 
 July 2004 
 
 BRAD SMITH, 30 
 
 Killed while surfing at Lefthanders surf break near Gracetown. 
 
 March 2005 
 
 GEOFFREY BRAZIER, 26 
 
 Killed after being attacked by a 6m shark while snorkelling off the Abrolhos Islands, off Geraldton. 
 
 December 2008 
 
 BRIAN GUEST, 51 
 
 Killed at Port Kennedy as he snorkelled with his son within 30m of the beach. 
 
 August 2010 
 
 NICK EDWARDS, 31 
 
 Killed while surfing off Gracetown. 
 
 September 2011 
 
 KYLE BURDEN, 21 
 
 Fatally bitten while bodyboarding at Bunker Bay, near Dunsborough. 
 
 October 2011 
 
 GEORGE WAINWRIGHT, 32 
 
 Texan killed while diving from a boat about 500m off Little Armstrong Bay at Rottnest Island. 
 
 October 2011 
 
 BRYN MARTIN, 64 
 
 Disappeared while swimming at Cottesloe beach. The WA Coroner concluded he was taken by a shark. 
 
 March 2012 
 
 PETER KURMANN, 33 
 
 Killed by a 4m great white while diving about 1.6km off Stratham beach, 230km south of Perth. 
 
 July 2012 
 
 BEN LINDEN, 24 
 
 Killed while surfi ng with a mate near Wedge Island on Saturday. 
 
 November 2013 
 
 CHRIS BOYD, 35 
 
 Plumber Chris Boyd, 35, originally from Queensland, was fatally attacked off Gracetown. 
 
 December 2014 
 
 JAY MUSCAT, 17 
 
 Died after he was mauled by a 4-5m great white off Cheynes beach. 
 
 May 31, 2016 
 
 BEN GERRING 
 
 Surfer is mauled by a shark off the coast of Falcon. He died from his injuries in hospital. 
 
 June 5, 2016 
 
 DOREEN COLLYER 
 
 Killed after being attacked by a large shark while diving off Mindarie.
– Australian divers got up close and personal with a grey nurse shark that was in desperate need of saving last week in a "first-of-its-kind" rescue caught on tape, via 7News Sydney, picked up by GrindTV. Somehow the young female shark—spotted breathing heavily in a shark habitat off Sydney—had managed to get an elastic band wrapped around her body. The band acted like a noose, slowly killing the shark as it pressed in on her gills. That's when a vet team swam into action, wrestling the shark into a clear plastic "sock" that could bring her to the surface—"the first time that we've run this kind of operation in the wild," a SeaLife sanctuary worker said. "When you're dealing with a wild animal like this anything can happen," he added, noting, "Their teeth are always on display and they are very sharp." At the surface, however, a vet was able to cut the cord, which left a nasty wound and had probably been there for some time. After an antibiotic shot, the shark went freely on her way and should be fully healed in a month or so, 7News reports. "If we hadn't intervened, I have no doubt it would have died, the elastic would have kept cutting deeper and deeper into the neck," the vet said. Click to read about another shark rescue; this one was choking ... on moose.