Seeing dead underwater animals washed ashore is not an unusual sight... but it does depend on the kind of animal.
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This Wednesday, July 20, a passerby came face to face with the carcass of a great white shark—now that is definitely out of the ordinary. It was discovered on the beach of a village in Quogue, in northeastern New York.
Sharks on the rise
It turns out that sharks off the coast of New York have been growing in numbers, and as the numbers have grown, so have the attacks. According to CBS News, the creatures are even beginning to swarm near the city and it's come to a point where authorities are starting to get alarmed.
So, when someone reported the presence of a great white shark corpse in the village of Quogue, personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene and they were able to take a photograph. Unfortunately, the tide pulled the dead animal back into the waters, and now authorities are hoping to find the body once again. They plan to perform an autopsy so that they can understand why it was there and how it got so close to New York City.
The search
In a statement, the Village of Quogue Police Department says the animal was '7 to 8 feet' in length. They added:
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. If the shark is spotted please contact the Quogue Village Police Department at 631-653-4791
When CBS questioned marine wildlife experts about the sharks, they clarified that it isn't actually that uncommon for sharks to come near Long Island. They said:
The white sharks and all the sharks that are here on Long Island are only here to feed on small bait fish.
They also added:
The sharks not here to eat the people,
A lot of these sharks don't have the capacity, the teeth, jaw structure, to rip off large pieces of flesh.
This article has been translated from Gentside FR.
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⋙ The enormous 20-foot shark was found in Australia, but nobody knows who killed it