Bukangi: Will the shark leave the Busan canal and make it back to sea?

In mid-September, a large shark was spotted swimming through a canal in Busan, a busy port city on the southern tip of South Korea. The discovery surprised everyone — including the country's top shark experts. The canal sits right next to one of the world's busiest shipping ports, making it a very unusual place for a shark to show up. Marine biologist Kim Hyun-woo was quickly called in by the coastguard to help rescue the animal and guide her back to the sea.

Kim got the call while he was on his way home from a trip tracking schools of mackerel to help fishing boats. Even though he is one of South Korea's leading shark experts, he never expected to be asked to actually save a shark. The situation was unlike anything the country had seen before — a shark this big, in a shallow concrete canal, had simply never happened.

The first thing Kim's team needed to do was figure out what kind of shark it was. Some sharks are much more dangerous than others — for example, the great white shark, the star of the famous 1975 movie Jaws, is known to attack humans. The shark in Busan turned out to be a female dusky shark, a species linked to only two deadly attacks. Still, Kim worried someone in the crowd forming at the canal might fall or jump into the water.

The coastguard tried using an electrical device that creates a weak current to push sharks away. These devices are usually used near popular beaches when sharks are spotted. But after five hours of trying, officials decided this particular shark was too large and fast for the device to work. Kim then decided to simply wait and see if the shark would swim out on her own — but she never did.

As rescue teams looked for new ideas, the stranded shark quickly became famous online. Just hours after she appeared, city officials sent an emergency text alert to everyone in Busan, warning people to stay cautious near the water. Even though the park along the canal was usually quiet, huge crowds soon showed up hoping to catch a glimpse of the shark. Fans gave her the name Bukangi, inspired by 'buk hang,' the Korean name for the nearby harbour.

Within days, a company had trademarked the name, and Bukangi pins, stuffed animals, and T-shirts began selling online. City officials set up a livestream of the shark and made Bukangi their official city mascot. A banner at the canal entrance even asked the public to sign a petition 'on behalf of Bukangi' supporting the construction of a new baseball stadium nearby. More than 1.6 million people visited the canal just to see her.

Watching for Bukangi became a shared activity for locals and tourists alike. The unspoken rule was that children always got a spot at the front of the crowd, and whoever spotted the shark would point her out to newcomers. Some devoted fans even patrolled the canal at night to make sure no one shone flashlights or lasers at Bukangi. The local mayor said the shark brought 'the kind of publicity even billions of dollars cannot buy' to the city.

But officials knew they couldn't leave Bukangi in the canal forever. By the end of September, she had not been seen eating for several days, and she was spotted with bloody scrapes on her snout from bumping into the concrete walls. Marine biology professor Choi Yoon told local media that experts were especially worried about a serious injury near the shark's eye. The canal was clearly no place for a wild animal.

Kim's team tried several new rescue methods. He looked at a 2004 case in Massachusetts where water jets pushed a great white shark out of a shallow pond, but when they tried the same on Bukangi, she kept coming back. On October 2nd, they stretched a net across the width of the canal to block her path, but she swam around it and returned within hours. Kim began to wonder if damage to the navigation sensors in her snout was making it hard for her to find her way out.

Experts also suggested that warming ocean temperatures may explain why Bukangi entered the canal in the first place. She may have followed fish into warmer, shallower water near the harbour. About 50 large sharks were recorded off South Korea's east coast in just the first half of the year — four times more than the year before. Climate change may be pushing more sharks into unexpected places.

As each rescue attempt failed, some of Bukangi's fans began calling for her to be left alone. Protesters showed up holding signs that read 'leave Bukangi alone' and 'remove the net.' But experts warned that staying in the canal was dangerous, especially as autumn temperatures dropped and the concrete walls continued to injure her. 'A wild animal cannot stay in a space made strictly for humans,' Kim said.

Eventually, South Korea's oceans ministry took over the rescue from Kim's team, bringing in around 40 people including aquarium divers and a veterinarian. Divers installed two layers of nets and successfully guided Bukangi out of the canal — but overnight, she swam back under the outer net and became trapped between the two layers. The next day, rescuers removed the outer layer, and Bukangi was seen swimming further and further toward open sea. The rescue operation was finally declared a success.