6ft Long Smalltooth Sand Tiger Shark Washes Up On British Beach After Being Saved By 'Brave Mother'
- last year
A rare 6ft-long small tooth sand tiger shark washes up dead on a British beach - hours after 'being saved by a brave mother who found it in the shallows and returned it to sea
The rare shark was washed up on Leep Beach in Hampshire on Friday
Mother Alisha Openshaw, 38, had already dragged the shark to deeper waters
Read more: Huge 'shark' fin is spotted off the coast of Cornwall
A rare 6ft-long small tooth sand tiger shark has washed up on a popular British beach - hours after being saved by a 'brave' mother, it was claimed.
The shark, found on Lepe Beach in Hampshire's New Forest, is believed to be the first of its species found in UK waters.
Alisha Openshaw, a mother of two, said she thought she had rescued the large shark when coming across it in the shallows of her local beach and dragging it into deeper waters on Friday.
Although the 38-year-old watched it swim away, the shark has now been found dead on the shore.
It was identified as a small tooth sand tiger shark, a species classified as Vulnerable and rarely spotted.
A rare 6ft-long small tooth sand tiger shark has washed up on a popular British beach - hours after being saved by a 'brave' mother
The Deepwater shark is known to be non-aggressive towards humans, but normally prefers warmer waters to the chilly coast of the UK.
The strictly-protected species can grow up to 12ft in length and weigh up to 289kg.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are probably fewer than 250 adult sand tiger sharks left.
Efforts are now underway to recover the shark from Lepe Beach in Hampshire's New Forest for further examinations and an autopsy.
On Friday afternoon, Ms. Openshaw was on the beach with her children when she spotted the creature on the beach which she thought had been there for a 'good two hours', but despite a group of people watching, no one had helped it.
So the hairdresser jumped in herself, pulled it into deeper waters, and saw it swim away.
Ms Openshaw, from Dibden Purlieu, Hants, said: 'I was heading to the beach for a walk, my mum was already there, so I got took the kids for a nice walk.
The rare shark was washed up on Leep Beach in Hampshire on Friday
Mother Alisha Openshaw, 38, had already dragged the shark to deeper waters
Read more: Huge 'shark' fin is spotted off the coast of Cornwall
A rare 6ft-long small tooth sand tiger shark has washed up on a popular British beach - hours after being saved by a 'brave' mother, it was claimed.
The shark, found on Lepe Beach in Hampshire's New Forest, is believed to be the first of its species found in UK waters.
Alisha Openshaw, a mother of two, said she thought she had rescued the large shark when coming across it in the shallows of her local beach and dragging it into deeper waters on Friday.
Although the 38-year-old watched it swim away, the shark has now been found dead on the shore.
It was identified as a small tooth sand tiger shark, a species classified as Vulnerable and rarely spotted.
A rare 6ft-long small tooth sand tiger shark has washed up on a popular British beach - hours after being saved by a 'brave' mother
The Deepwater shark is known to be non-aggressive towards humans, but normally prefers warmer waters to the chilly coast of the UK.
The strictly-protected species can grow up to 12ft in length and weigh up to 289kg.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are probably fewer than 250 adult sand tiger sharks left.
Efforts are now underway to recover the shark from Lepe Beach in Hampshire's New Forest for further examinations and an autopsy.
On Friday afternoon, Ms. Openshaw was on the beach with her children when she spotted the creature on the beach which she thought had been there for a 'good two hours', but despite a group of people watching, no one had helped it.
So the hairdresser jumped in herself, pulled it into deeper waters, and saw it swim away.
Ms Openshaw, from Dibden Purlieu, Hants, said: 'I was heading to the beach for a walk, my mum was already there, so I got took the kids for a nice walk.