Outdoors

Locals find 3-metre-long shark stranded on Cape Breton beach

Shark in Cape Breton Sean O'Connell/CBC

Nova Scotia has been having a rather shark-filled fall. Many Nova Scotians tracked the comings and goings of great white shark Hilton on Twitter as he traveled around the East Coast. Recently, however, a more tragic story has been making waves.

This past Monday, a dead porbeagle shark was discovered washed up on Inverness Beach in Cape Breton.

The animal was spotted stranded in shallow waters on the weekend. Three local men tried to help get it into deeper water, but it seems the animal was too far gone and became beached sometime overnight.

Shark in Cape Breton
Photo courtesy of CBC/Sean O’Connell

Photographer Sean O’Connell watched the attempted rescue and returned to take photos of the carcass. He told the National Post that he had never seen a shark so close to the shore before.

Shark Cape Breton
Photo courtesy of CBC/Sean O’Connell

The porbeagle shark is one of 19 species that are native to Nova Scotia. According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, it is not uncommon to see a porbeagle in shallow water or close to shore during late summer.

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