By Jenny Noyes
Volunteer crews at a Marine Rescue NSW base on the state's south coast have been confronted with a horrific sight as they arrived for duty on Saturday morning.
A bloody shark's head was found stuck onto a fence spike outside the Shellharbour Marine Rescue NSW base. It had cigarette butts and pizza slices packed into its mouth.
Shark's head spiked on fence of Marine Rescue NSW base at Shellharbour. Credit: Marine Rescue NSW
Marine Rescue Shellharbour unit commander Richard O’Connor told Fairfax Media the organisation believes it was "either a joke or a misdirected statement" rather than a "vicious attack", but that "it's not something that we expect our people to turn up to".
With a member base of 33 people at the Shellharbour base, Mr O'Connor added "we certainly don’t expect the community to look at us and think we deserve something like that."
The volunteer-run organisation posted the grisly images online showing the fish head, believed to be that of a mako shark, with the caption "How NOT to treat a volunteer emergency service."
"It's a kick in the guts for our committed volunteers who give up their time to save lives on the water," the organisation wrote on Facebook on Monday.
Volunteers and residents reacted to the post with shock and disgust.
"Why why why? Marine Rescue are there to help keep everyone safe on the water. As a Marine member myself this is terribly disrespectful," one person said.
A second said "That looks like a pointless exercise!!! Some sick people around."
"Someone with a macabre sense of humour," another added.
with AAP, Illawarra Mercury