Watch: Rescuers save beached great white shark
Once the great white shark started swimming, onlookers clapped with excitement on Chatham, Mass., South Beach.
The animal was struggling to breathe on Monday, according to the Boston Globe, after it washed up on the shore.
According to Chatham Harbormaster Stuart Smith, who was called in to help, people were hurling buckets of water on the animal's body to keep it alive, the Globe reports.
"Twenty, 25 years ago, they wouldn't be exactly helping the shark. They'd be harming the shark, but now every single person on that beach was trying to assist it," Smith told the Globe. "The people on the beach made the difference."
The footage, posted on YouTube, shows rescuers using a rope and guiding the shark into deeper water via boat. The shark was also tagged so researchers can track its whereabouts, according to the news organization.
Greg Skomal, a biologist from the state's Division of Marine Fisheries, told the Globe, "It was worth giving it a try before assuming it was dead."