Dog owners at a popular beach have been warned to keep their animals out of the water after a suspected shark sighting.
A fisherman on the breakwall at Kyeemagh, Botany Bay, in Sydney's southeast, logged a warning after spotting a dorsal fin close to shore to a shark alert app on Wednesday morning.
The warning was quickly shared to a a local dog-owners group by a local woman.
Dog owners at a popular beach have been warned to keep their animals out of the water after a suspected shark sighting
A fisherman on the breakwall at Kyeemagh, Botany Bay, logged a warning about a dorsal fin close to shore to a shark alert app on Wednesday morning
'Maybe keep your pups out of the water today,' she wrote.
The warning, posted at 2am on Wednesday, described a single shark about 50 metres off shore in Botany Bay, beside the airport.
'Fishing off Cooks River breakwall opposite ... the old air traffic control tower,' he wrote.
'Dorsal fin and slight thrashing of water seen near General Holmes Drive bridge pillar.'
Users of the Brighton le Sands dog-owners' group regularly post photos of their canines enjoying a swim in Botany Bay but on Wednesday they were warned to keep away from the beach
Dogs have long been rumoured to be a favourite coastal prey for sharks
Kyeemagh has a popular designated off-leash area for dogs to play and swim only metres from that spot.
Users of the Brighton-Le-Sands dog-owners' group regularly post photos of their canines enjoying a swim in Botany Bay.
In 2017, a bull shark ate a dog in shallow waters near Kurnell in south Sydney.
Dogs have long been rumoured to be a favourite coastal prey for sharks.
In 2018, veteran Australian diver and photographer Valerie Taylor confirmed in an article debunking shark myths that the predators really are drawn to swimming dogs.
'Sharks' curiosity attracts them to any unusual creature in their environment,' Ms Taylor wrote in Australian Geographic.
'A small animal like a dog is more likely to be considered prey than a big animal.'
English (United States) ·