People are being warned not to enter the water off the Kurnell Peninsular and to prevent their dogs from swimming at the off leash beach at Bonna Point following an incident on Sunday evening when a dog was taken by what was believed to be a bull shark.
The dog was reported to be swimming just several metres off-shore when it was taken by the shark at Bonna Point, near the south-eastern headland of Botany Bay.
Council lifeguards are at the Kurnell beaches advising swimmers and pet owners to keep out of the water and they have installed signs to alert the public to the shark sighting.
The incident comes after several sightings of sharks close to swimmers and kite surfers in Botany Bay this month.
On February 9, a kite-surfer was filmed just metres from a shark close to the shore at Brighton Le Sands, as people on the beach waved to him and tried to alert him to the shark's presence.
Several days later, two swimmers were photographed running across shallow water near Sydney Airport as a shark's dorsal fin surfaced not far from them.
Around the same time, a juvenile great white shark was swimming in Alexandra Canal, a tributary of the Cooks River close to Sydney Airport.
NSW Department of Primary Industries advises people to avoid swimming or surfing when it is dark or during twilight hours and encourages the use of the SharkSmart app which has safety tips for swimmers, surfers, divers, snorkelers and spearfishers.
- Details: dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/sharks/sharksmart