Sharks are one of the world's most notorious apex predators, but despite having dominion over the seas, in the vast majority of situations, whether they are environmental or manmade, they are at the mercy of us humans.

Case in point, this great white shark, who bled out after getting its head stuck in a diving cage.

In the clip above, after the shark's head becomes stuck in the bars of the cage, it wriggles frantically to and fro in an attempt to free itself. Within feet of the diver, the shark tears open its gills and was eventually filmed floating lifelessly to the ocean floor.

Per the Daily Star, the animal struggled for 25 minutes after getting its head caught.

All of which begs the question: should we humans, the biggest predators of all, rethink activities like cage diving which have potentially deadly consequences?

The heartbreaking footage was posted to Facebook by Mexican environmentalist Arturo Islas Allende, who revealed in the comments section that the government had made it mandatory for divers to alter their cages so that such incidents could not occur in 2017, however, as evident, these regulations haven't been adhered to by everyone.

Allende continued that making the alterations was simply "common sense" because they protect not only the sharks but divers too.

Since being posted to Facebook, the footage has received over 229K reactions and 13K comments, the majority of which echo Allende's sentiment that this shark should have never lost its life in such a needlessly cruel way.

The cruelty of cage diving was also highlighted in the National Geographic, where it was explained that shark diving can also have a detrimental effect on ecosystems.

Sharks are one of the world's most notorious apex predators, but despite having dominion over the seas, in the vast majority of situations, whether they are environmental or manmade, they are at the mercy of us humans.

Case in point, this great white shark, who bled out after getting its head stuck in a diving cage.

In the clip above, after the shark's head becomes stuck in the bars of the cage, it wriggles frantically to and fro in an attempt to free itself. Within feet of the diver, the shark tears open its gills and was eventually filmed floating lifelessly to the ocean floor.

Per the Daily Star, the animal struggled for 25 minutes after getting its head caught.

All of which begs the question: should we humans, the biggest predators of all, rethink activities like cage diving which have potentially deadly consequences?

The heartbreaking footage was posted to Facebook by Mexican environmentalist Arturo Islas Allende, who revealed in the comments section that the government had made it mandatory for divers to alter their cages so that such incidents could not occur in 2017, however, as evident, these regulations haven't been adhered to by everyone.

Allende continued that making the alterations was simply "common sense" because they protect not only the sharks but divers too.

Since being posted to Facebook, the footage has received over 229K reactions and 13K comments, the majority of which echo Allende's sentiment that this shark should have never lost its life in such a needlessly cruel way.

The cruelty of cage diving was also highlighted in the National Geographic, where it was explained that shark diving can also have a detrimental effect on ecosystems.