Shark! Save the shark!

I'm a sucker for a good shark tale, so had to pass along this snippet from the AP:

When a Coney Island lifeguard spied a shark Monday near an upset group of swimmers, he did what he thought was right: He rescued the fish.

Marisu Mironescu, 39, said he was prompted to action after seeing about 75 to 100 people circling the 2-foot sand shark off the beach and "bugging out."

"They were holding onto it and some people were actually hitting him, smacking his face," said Mironescu. "Well, I wasn't going to let them hurt the poor thing."

He grabbed the largely harmless shark in his arms and carried it, backstroking out to sea, where he let it go. "He was making believe like he's dead, then he wriggled his whole body and tried to bite me," Mironescu said.

First, a kid slaps a bear in New Mexico, now a crowd slaps a shark in Jersey. What's next, people, a pine marten?