Police are asking swimmers to be on alert after a white shark washed up along a Long Island beach before it was pulled back out to sea. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said it was a juvenile male great white, CBS New York reports.
On Wednesday morning, Quogue Village Police responded to a call reporting a dead shark on the shores of Ocean Beaches in the Village of Quogue, police said in a statement on Facebook.
The deceased shark measured between 7-8 feet and washed back out to sea before police could secure it, they said.
Police posted a photo of the carcass snapped by a witness showing the dead shark laying on its side on the sand.
Quogue Village Police said they are working with the South Fork Natural History Museum Shark Research and Education Program to monitor the situation. Experts are hoping to recover the carcass to perform a necropsy, CBS New York reports.
Police also issued a warning to swimmers to be cautious as they attempt to locate the shark.
“At this time we are cautioning swimmers and boaters in the area to be aware of this ongoing situation, and to keep distance to allow the Law Enforcement to monitor this event,” police said.
Quogue Village Police asked anyone who spots the dead shark to contact them at 631-653-4791.
The sighting comes as this summer sees a rise in shark attacks across the country, including five on Long Island alone in the last two weeks, one of which injured a surfer and another a lifeguard.
Marina experts told CBS New York that the sharks are not uncommon in the waters off the south shore of Long Island, which is believed to be a nursery for the young great whites.
“White sharks and all the sharks that are here on Long Island are only here to feed on small bait fish,” Greg Metzger of the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center told CBS New York. “…Those negative interactions that people did encounter are probably due to the sharks trying to get at the food source.”
“The sharks not here to eat the people,” he added. “A lot of these sharks don’t have the capacity, the teeth, jaw structure, to rip off large pieces of flesh.”
