SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – A 2-pound shark ended up near the 12th hole at San Juan Hills Golf Club in a case that a state fish and game official thinks is "pretty fishy."
Melissa McCormack, director of club operations at the golf course, said the 2-foot-long spotted shark was found by an employee Monday afternoon as it lay flopping on the grass close to a group of golfers trying to make their putts. A golf marshal grabbed the shark and took it to the clubhouse.
"We couldn't believe it was still alive," McCormack said. "There was a puncture wound under his dorsal fin and there was fresh blood. We assumed he was picked up by a bird and dropped there."
The golf-course staff rinsed the shark with faucet water and put it in a bucket, she said. A cart attendant quickly drove it to Dana Point Harbor, where it was put in the ocean near Baby Beach, and it immediately swam away, she said.
"This is definitely the weirdest thing I've ever seen here," she said. "There's been nothing as bizarre as this. We'll get the occasional mountain lion and coyote, but nothing like this."
McCormack estimated the golf club is about two miles from the beach as the crow flies. "We get a lot of eagles, herons and sea gulls here," she said.
But the story "sounds fishy to me," said Assistant Chief Dan Sforza of the California Department of Fish and Game. "It seems weird it could be out of the water that long. It doesn't sound like it could be a recipe for success."
Sforza said someone might have dumped the shark at the golf course.
"Leopard sharks are legal to possess but they have to be 3 feet long," he said. "There is a black-market trade out there for leopard sharks. They're real cool-looking. Maybe it got too big for someone's tank."
Sforza said the only bird likely to have carried the shark from the ocean is an osprey.
"That would be the only bird that's big enough," he said. "Pelicans don't use their beak. They just swoop in and swallow. Sea gulls wouldn't be big enough to carry a 2-pound shark."
Read More: http://www.ocregister.com/news/shark-375483-golf-mccormack.html
Melissa McCormack, director of club operations at the golf course, said the 2-foot-long spotted shark was found by an employee Monday afternoon as it lay flopping on the grass close to a group of golfers trying to make their putts. A golf marshal grabbed the shark and took it to the clubhouse.
This small shark was found near the 12th hole at San Juan Hills Golf Club in San Juan Capistrano. It was released into the ocean at Baby Beach in Dana Point and swam away.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SAN JUAN HILLS GOLF CLUB., REPORTING BY ERIKA RITCHIE
The golf-course staff rinsed the shark with faucet water and put it in a bucket, she said. A cart attendant quickly drove it to Dana Point Harbor, where it was put in the ocean near Baby Beach, and it immediately swam away, she said.
"This is definitely the weirdest thing I've ever seen here," she said. "There's been nothing as bizarre as this. We'll get the occasional mountain lion and coyote, but nothing like this."
McCormack estimated the golf club is about two miles from the beach as the crow flies. "We get a lot of eagles, herons and sea gulls here," she said.
But the story "sounds fishy to me," said Assistant Chief Dan Sforza of the California Department of Fish and Game. "It seems weird it could be out of the water that long. It doesn't sound like it could be a recipe for success."
Sforza said someone might have dumped the shark at the golf course.
"Leopard sharks are legal to possess but they have to be 3 feet long," he said. "There is a black-market trade out there for leopard sharks. They're real cool-looking. Maybe it got too big for someone's tank."
Sforza said the only bird likely to have carried the shark from the ocean is an osprey.
"That would be the only bird that's big enough," he said. "Pelicans don't use their beak. They just swoop in and swallow. Sea gulls wouldn't be big enough to carry a 2-pound shark."
Read More: http://www.ocregister.com/news/shark-375483-golf-mccormack.html
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