{"id":392,"date":"2026-09-29T13:17:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T13:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/?p=392"},"modified":"2026-09-29T13:17:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T13:17:01","slug":"busan-canal-shark-bukangi-600000-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/?p=392","title":{"rendered":"3.5-METER SHARK TRAPPED IN BUSAN CANAL DRAWS 600,000 FANS! | \u2018Shafluencer\u2019 Bukang-i becomes honorary ambassador as rescue stalls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A 3.5-metre shark nicknamed <strong>Bukang-i<\/strong> \u2014 after Busan\u2019s North Port \u2014 has been stuck in a narrow South Korean city canal for more than a week, and the crowds will not quit. The Guardian reported from Seoul that the fish was first spotted Sept. 18; experts think it is a bronze whaler that followed prey in and could not get out.<\/p>\n<p>North Port Waterfront Park usually sees about <strong>2,000<\/strong> holiday visitors a day. From Sept. 19\u201328 the city recorded <strong>607,000<\/strong> visits. Coastguard crews tried a drive-out on day one, then suspended after six hours on scientists\u2019 advice. Tuesday morning, boats sprayed water jets behind the shark \u2014 modeled on a 2004 Massachusetts great-white rescue \u2014 but the first try failed when Bukang-i slipped past the boats back into the canal (Herald Business). The afternoon operation was suspended again. A fisheries institute says the shark is stable, but feeding and movement are restricted.<\/p>\n<p>The city leaned into the moment: after a <strong>91%<\/strong> Instagram poll said yes, Busan named the shark an honorary publicity ambassador \u2014 the <strong>\u201cShafluencer\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 and mascot Boogi accepted the certificate. Mayor Chun Jae-soo: \u201cIt really has star quality\u2026 It\u2019s just so pretty.\u201d Kim Jung-sook, 62, said she got attached after seeing it a few days and felt a bit sad. Lee Do-yoon, 8: \u201cIt\u2019s OK\u2026 Bukang-i is going to meet its friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Background sting: the fisheries institute counted <strong>46<\/strong> large sharks off the east coast in the first half of the year \u2014 nearly four times a year earlier \u2014 blaming warmer seas and more prey fish.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/sep\/29\/large-shark-stuck-city-canal-south-korea-rescue\">The Guardian (Raphael Rashid)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Shafluencer\u2019 Bukang-i becomes honorary ambassador as rescue stalls<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/bb-busan-shark-canal-0929.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugleblast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}