Meet Rick Anderson, an Australian who calls a Port Jackson shark his friend, saying she comes to hug him every time she sees him.
“I started playing with her about seven years ago when she was just a pup about 6 inches long,” Anderson told The Dodo.
And she always recognizes him, according to Anderson. “I approached her carefully so as not to spook her, then began to gently pat her. Once she got used to me, I would cradle her in my hand and talk soothingly to her through my regulator.”
Rick Anderson has been scuba diving for 27 years and runs a dive school, added: “Over the following seasons, she’d recognize me and would swim up to me for a pat and cuddle. She soon got used to me — to the point where she will swim up to me when I’m going past, and tap me on the legs until I hold my arms out for her to lay on for a cuddle.”
