This guy’s a real hammer head.
A Florida fisherman who was caught on surveillance video beating a shark to death with a hammer has been sentenced to one year of probation — and ordered to take shark fishing classes, according to reports.
Brian Waddill, 34, was nabbed pounding a lemon shark, a protected species, with a hammer at Bicentennial Beach Park in Indian Harbor in December — and was later charged with failure to return a prohibited species.
The disturbing footage shows Waddill striking the shark several times as it lay in the surf — then turning the helpless fish over and using the back of the hammer to rip out its gills.
He then dragged the fish back into the water, allegedly after he noticed bystanders watching him.
The battered fish died after being returned to the water.
Waddill has now been sentenced to 12 months of probation, ordered to pay a $336 fine and has to make a $250 donation to the Brevard Zoo — and will have to complete an on-site shark fishing course with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, according to a report by WIOD-News Radio.
Lemon sharks are one of 28 protected species of sharks in Florida. Under state law, any protected shark that is caught by fishermen has to be returned to the sea unharmed.
Lemon sharks can grow to 10 feet long and can live more than 25 years.