Researcher protects swimming deer from sharks in California

May 14 (UPI) -- A researcher shark-spotting off the California coast shared video of his rare encounter with a swimming deer he steered away from the sharks.

Sean Van Sommeran said he had "seen a couple sharks" Mary 9 before he encountered an apparently disoriented deer swimming in circles around Monterey Bay.

Van Sommeran says in the video of the encounter that it was "bizarre" to find the deer swimming directionless in the ocean.

The video shows the researcher positioning his boat between the deer and the sharks while attempting to guide the mammal back to shore.

The footage shows the deer make it safely to shore before the boat draws the attention of a nearby shark.