Orca expert Ingrid Visser carried out a rescue of a different type when she saved a shark after it flung itself on to rocks fleeing from hungry orca in the Bay of Islands.
Dr Visser was with a visiting Japanese crew near Jacks Bay on Monday when a pod of 16 orca were spotted hunting stingray and sevengill sharks. It was a case of predator versus bigger predator and it was the sharks who came off second best.
"We were watching a group of orca hunt a shark when I saw a shark being chased by another group, leap up on to the rocks," Dr Visser said.
"It was high and dry."