Golfers and workers at a California golf course got quite the surprise when they found a live shark flopping around the 12th hole tee.
A live two-foot shark mysteriously wound up on the San Juan Hills golf course in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. on Monday. Golf course employees were shocked to find the marine creature on the green. The strange find was immediately reported to the clubhouse.
"Our marshals were doing their rounds and came across the fish writhing on the tee," Melissa McCormack, director of club operations, told The Huffington Post.
"It was just wriggling around," McCormack told The Capistrano Dispatch. "Honestly, this is the weirdest thing that's happened here."
The marshal picked up the shark and put it in his golf cart to drive it back to the clubhouse. In order to try to save the animal, cart attendant Bryan Stizer placed the shark in a bucket that contained water and some salt for a brief moment.
During his work break, Stizer drove the shark to Baby Beach in Dana Point so he could release it into the ocean.
"I thought he was dead," Stizer told the Dispatch. "When I dropped him into the water, he just lied there for a few seconds, but then he did a twist and shot off into the water."
Sharks don't have the ability to fly, so McCormack things it may have had a bit of help from an animal than can fly. She thinks it was picked up by a predatory bird from the ocean which dropped it onto the gold course, about four miles away from the water. The creature was bleeding when they found it as it had wounds by its dorsal fin.
"It had a little blood on it, but it was still alive," McCormack told the Dispatch. "We didn't want to waste any time. Poor guy, he got dropped onto a golf course."
Julianne Steers, chief aquarist at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, thinks the light brown shark with the black spots was a leopard shark, which is common around California waters. She thinks a falcon or osprey picked up the unlucky shark.
"I have seen peregrine falcons and we do have ospreys. Between the two of those, ospreys are probably more frequent. Those are the only two that would've had the strength," Steers said.
Steers also thinks that a person could have dropped the shark on the course.
"I have heard and seen instances," Steers told the Dispatch. "You hate to think a human could do this."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
